Two Canadian activists, Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx, who sold untainted hard drugs in Vancouver to prevent fatal overdoses, are now fighting drug trafficking charges in court.
They co-founded the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) and argue that Canada’s current drug laws put lives at risk by denying drug users a safer supply.
Their case challenges the legality of these drug laws, claiming they violate the right to life and liberty by forcing users to rely on dangerous, contaminated drugs.
Kalicum and Nyx started selling pure cocaine, meth, and heroin as part of a “compassion club” to offer safe alternatives to street drugs, especially in British Columbia (BC), where over 11,000 people have died from overdoses since 2019.
Most of these deaths are linked to drugs laced with harmful substances like fentanyl. They believe their actions helped reduce overdose deaths by offering tested, uncontaminated drugs.
The activists had applied for permission to sell tested drugs legally but were denied because they acknowledged that the drugs would be sourced from the dark web.
They now argue that this refusal leaves users exposed to unsafe supplies, which infringes on their rights. Their case also calls for a section of Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) that bans the sale of illegal drugs to be declared unconstitutional.
This is their second attempt to challenge the drug laws, but the first legal action taken since being charged with drug trafficking.
According to a study on their programme, their actions helped reduce overdose risks for drug users in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
However, the BC government cut funding for drug testing, citing their illegal activities. BC has also experimented with its own safe supply program and decriminalized some hard drugs to address the overdose crisis, but these efforts have faced criticism and pushback.
Credit to the BBC for providing this detailed explanation of the case.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3wp03d97jvo