The HIV Legal Network is heartened by a British Columbia Supreme Court decision today that found section 5(2) of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (which prohibits possession for the purpose of trafficking) to be unconstitutional because it violates section 7 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Section 7 guarantees the right to life, liberty, and security of the person — and this includes all people in Canada, including people who use drugs.
In making her decision, which also dismissed the trafficking charges against Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) founders Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx, Justice Catherine Murray noted that Kalicum and Nyx had performed a public service at a “considerable personal cost” by operating a compassion club and overdose prevention site to save lives and supplying safety-tested substances to people who use drugs in the Vancouver area.
This decision is an important legal step forward and an important affirmation of the human rights of all people who use drugs in Canada at a time when this country’s toxic drug supply is killing thousands of people every year. We applaud today’s decision and will continue working to end the failed war on drugs and its many ongoing harms in Canada and around the world.
To learn about a more progressive, human rights–based approach to drug policy that does not rely on criminal, administrative, and medical interventions, please take a look at Decriminalization Done Right: A Rights-Based Path for Drug Policy: https://www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/decriminalization-done-right-a-rights-based-path-for-drug-policy/?lang=en
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Media Contact: Dylan DeMarsh, HIV Legal Network