Archive
VANDU Protest and Vigil commemorated 40 years of injustice & deaths through Drug Wars Misery in Vancouver Downtown Eastside on Friday June 17, 2011
VANDU’s action in solidarity with the Students for Sensible Drug Policy who held candlelight vigils across North America to demand an end to the “drug war” declared by Richard Nixon on June 17 1971.
Forty years ago today, Nixon publicly declared war on drugs. Since then, the US federal government has wasted over $1 trillion ruining peoples’ lives and putting tens of millions of nonviolent citizens in jail. Canada is now mimicking US policy.
Tonight, more than 500,000 people across the US will have to sleep behind bars for violating a nonviolent drug offense. That’s more than all of western Europe locks up for ALL offenses. This disgrace is a fiscal and moral nightmare for all of us who care about freedom, responsibility and accountable government. Think about this: locking up one inmate costs about $30,000 per year in the US and $320/day in Canada– way more than is costs to go to college.
We’re fed up with these disastrous policies – Our governments MUST finally end this shockingly wasteful, counterproductive war.
VANDU is a group of users and former users who work to improve the lives of people who use illegal drugs through user based peer support and education
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Making up Methadone: International perspectives on inequality, social justice and methadone maintenance therapy
This event was part of a workshop which brings an international group of researchers to Vancouver to discuss the social and cultural dimensions of methadone maintenance therapy for opioid dependency.
An evening of presentations and dialogue focused on key dilemmas connected to this longstanding but often still controversial treatment. Lived experience, inequality and social justice are themes considered from the vantage point of different global contexts.
Dave Murray of VANDU in Vancouver DTES thanks Lady Gaga and MAC AIDS Fund for grant donations
In the next photos and video, Dave Murray of VANDU in Vancouver DTES thanks Lady Gaga and MAC AIDS Fund for grant donations to help VANDU continue to educate about Harm Reduction and AIDS Education in our neighbourhood
VANDU sidewalk of chalk messages in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
On a clear Thursday, VANDU members scribed chalk messages in front of their office on Hastings Street in Vancouver Downtown Eastside
In the realm of reform: Drugs, Laws & Social Change fundraising event at W2 on Thursday March 31, 2011
Join best selling author and physician, Gabor Mate for a special fundraising event in support of Pivot, co-sponsored by W2 Storyeum, VANDU and the Portland Hotel Society.
Gabor will be joined by Pivot Legal Society Litigation Director, Katrina Pacey and Lorna Bird of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society and Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users for an evening of discussion on the multi-layered issues of addiction, mental health, law enforcement and justice.
March 31· 6:30 p.m.
W2 Storyeum, 151 E. Cordova Street, Vancouver, B.C.
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