UNDUN

Statement of Purpose
Video

Announcements Drug Users Memorial Day Observed in Ottawa On July 20th in Ottawa a couple dozen people who use (currently illicit) drugs and supporters held a memorial gathering to remember, and protest, the untimely Drug War-related deaths of friends and loved ones. Meeting in a local park to observe Drug Users Memorial Day, people spoke of all-too-many friends who've died over the past couple of decades as a result HIV. Hepatitis C, infections, and overdoses - all causes of premature death for drug users that would be greatly preventable were there less hardship and stigma and greater implementation of proven harm reduction programs for users of currently illicit drugs. See more Ottawa memorial pictures on the News page The Vienna Declaration: A Global Call to Action for Science-Based Drug Policy Please support the Vienna Declaration, an international call for the incorporation of scientific evidence into illicit drug policies. This push is particularly relevant to the struggle to continue operating Insite (safer injection facility) in Vancouver which is under attack by the federal Conservatives who are presently following an ideological, instead of scientific, approach to drug policy in Canada. Organizing the Canadian Association of People Who Use(d) Drugs Over the weekend of June 12/13, 2010 several activists for people who use(d) drugs in Canada met in Toronto with commitment to push on with the founding of CAPUD - the Canadian Association of People Who Use(d) Drugs. See Projects Detailed report on Adulterants The The Centre for Public Health at Liverpool University has released a detailed report on adulterants used in cutting illicit substances. Appropriately entitled CUT, it shows what is used to rip you off and endanger your health. See more in the News section. Users Involvement and Organizing in Harm Reduction The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) has released a comprehensive overview of the harm reduction field. Included is a chapter on users involvement. Report Positively Corrolates Drug Law Enforcement and Drug-Related Violence The Urban Health Research Initiative at U.B.C. has released a report which suggests that Canada’s war on drugs has failed to curb the illicit drug trade, and proposed legal interventions to disrupt the drug market (eg. Bill C-15)may actually dramatically boost rates of drug-related violence. Read more at News page. Download the report here Victoria Police Department attempts to quash free speech Victoria Police Department active duty police officer David Bratzer was planning to accept an invitation to speak about drug policy and harm reduction at an official city government-sponsored event until his police department's leadership stepped in and ordered him not to show up. Read more and sign petition here Howard S. Lotsof passes away in New York International user activist and principle advocate for ibogaine treatment for opiod dependency. See Howard's obit in the New York Times Read more in News section Randy Beddow Dies in Victoria Randy was a long-time user activist with SOLID. See more in News Section Still Not Fixed Forum in Victoria Harm Reduction Victoria is holding a public forum on October 1st to discuss the issues of needle exchange, supervised consumption and how harm reduction services contribute to safer communities. Currently Victoria is without a fixed needle exchange program because a portion of the downtown has been red-zone for harm reduction services (i.e. harm reduction services are not allowed in that area). See News Section for more info. Opiod Prescribing article in CMAJ A recently released article "Opioid prescribing challenges doctors" in the Canadian Medical Association Journal deals with a topic which is relevant to heroin and morphine users in Canada. The article quotes Deb and Brent from UNDUN who favour changes in policy which would enable general practicing doctors to be able to prescribe pharmaceutical opiates to people who are currently dependent illicit users. See CMAJ's website for the full article International Overdose Awareness Day August 31, 2009 The Salvation Army of Australia has released a couple good videos as part of their campaign for Overdose Awareness Day. One video is a collection of stories from heroin users, and one is from a harm reduction practitioners' perspective. Find both at the Sally Ann's website Cost Comparison of Prohibition and Regulation Another excellent, comprehensive report from Transform. Their latest report compares the costs of the current prohibition system with that of a regulated system of drugs. Download the report from here Cut used with Cocaine causes bone marrow suppression Saskatoon Public Health newsletter (p.3) reports that a new potentially lethal agranulocytosis (failure of the bone marrow to make enough white blood cells) side effect has been noticed as a complication of injecting illicit drugs that have been contaminated (cut) with Levamisole (a de-worming drug used in vet medicine). The neutropenia caused is acute and profound, associated commonly with a neutrophil count of zero. In a cocaine user or suspected cocaine user, any symptoms of infection including fevers warrant an urgent CBC and differential to look for neutropenia. Urine toxicology should also be sent simultaneously looking for cocaine and levamisole. Cocaine cut with this potentially lethal cut has been detected in Alberta, Saskatewan, Manitoba and some U.S. states. Pot Activist Still Fighting Extradition Marc Emery was busted by the DEA in 2005 for selling pot seeds online, even though Marc's operation was located in Vancouver, B.C. For reasons of national sovereignty alone, this case is significant. However, the reason Marc (and two others) were busted in the first place was because some of the profits from their seed-selling business had been funding numerous pot initiatives and assisting other anti-prohibition efforts for well over a decade. Marc's bust was clearly politically motivated by U.S. war on drugs efforts. For an extensive review of the history of Marc's case thus far, check out a very complete report at Cannabis Culture Pacific Summit on Drug User Health From June 12-14 about 100 user activists from all over B.C. and the Yukon meet in Vancouver to strategize and form the BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors (see Constitution). This landmark Summit for user organizing was organized and hosted by VANDU. A summary report about the Summit can be read here VANDU presented an excellent report at the Summit on the Health Status of People Who Use Illicit Drugs in British Columbia. View a slideshow of the report here International Activists Protest Narcotics Commission Demonstrating at the opening session of the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna, Austria in March some two dozen international user activists call for Drug War Peace. See more in News section. Belleville Users Hep C Support        <-- click to see larger image Some participants in the Belleville Drug Users Hep C Support Group send "Seasons Greetings!" to express their solidarity with VANDU, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, for their inspirational work on behalf of health and human rights for injection drug users in Canada. International Drug Users Day IDUD2008 is being hosted by BrugerForeningen - the Danish Drug Users Union - on October 31, 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. Some 28 countries will be represented, including several activists from Canada. See photos of this historic gathering of international drug user activists here and here Stephen Harper: The Pinocchio Effect View the Video produced for the upcoming federal election by Canadians for Common Sense on Drug Policy. The video reveals a few of the many lies the Conservatives are spreading in their Anti-Drug Strategy, which mimics a U.S. style War on Drug Users. See an example of Conservatives' pre-election hysteria pamphlet regarding crime and substance users. The pamphlet begins with the line "Junkies and drug pushers don't belong near children and families". That line typifies the Conservative's self-proclaimed "compassion" toward substance users. View pamphlet see previous announcements