The arrests occurred on Wednesday, and the organizers were released without charge. Instead, VPD issued a press release in a dialect of doublespeak only police could pull off.
DULF is leading the way in improving quality of life for people who use drugs. The medical and judiciary institutions have failed--it's time we acknowledge that. As a parent who has lost a child to drug poisoning, I support initiatives like DULF. My son would still be alive if he had been able to evaluate the quantity and potency of the drugs he was taking--instead he had to trust a criminalized and unregulated blackmarket supply. The services that were supposed to be helping him (the ones where people get paid big $) made him feel ashamed when he used, so he lied and tried to hide his drug use from them, and they, in turn, punished him. Punitive behaviour leads to people hiding, and the one thing we know about the drug poisoning crisis is that many of those who died were alone.
Thank you for sharing your pain and frustration Jessica - I agree wholeheartedly with everything you've said here and wish things could have been different for you.
DULF is leading the way in improving quality of life for people who use drugs. The medical and judiciary institutions have failed--it's time we acknowledge that. As a parent who has lost a child to drug poisoning, I support initiatives like DULF. My son would still be alive if he had been able to evaluate the quantity and potency of the drugs he was taking--instead he had to trust a criminalized and unregulated blackmarket supply. The services that were supposed to be helping him (the ones where people get paid big $) made him feel ashamed when he used, so he lied and tried to hide his drug use from them, and they, in turn, punished him. Punitive behaviour leads to people hiding, and the one thing we know about the drug poisoning crisis is that many of those who died were alone.
Thank you for sharing your pain and frustration Jessica - I agree wholeheartedly with everything you've said here and wish things could have been different for you.