Overview
In Canada and other countries, drug use and dependence are treated largely as criminal law concerns — and people who use drugs are vilified and subjected to routine and often horrific human rights abuses.
Yet extensive evidence shows that doing the reverse would be more productive. The overreliance on criminal law enforcement (a.k.a. “the war on drugs”) is not only ineffective, it is hugely wasteful, carrying enormous financial costs and taking a terrible human toll on people who use drugs and their families and loved ones. Furthermore, criminalizing and incarcerating people for drug use, and denying access to effective health services, only fuels the spread of infections such as HIV and hepatitis C (HCV). Instead, all available evidence indicates that protecting and promoting the human rights of people who use drugs is necessary and effective in upholding their human rights, including their right to health.
We’re committed to reducing the harms caused by harsh, misguided drug laws. Instead of prohibition and punishment, drug policy must be grounded in sound evidence, and in the principle of the universality of human rights — rights to which all people are equally entitled, including people who use drugs.
We advocate for:
- increased access to harm reduction and other evidence-based health services, such as needle and syringe programs, supervised consumption and overdose prevention services, a safe, regulated drug supply, and drug dependence treatment;
- criminal legal system reforms that respect the human rights and promote the health of people who use drugs and reduce their chances of incarceration, with a focus on the impacts of such reforms on Black, Indigenous and other racialized communities;
- drug policy that is evidence-informed, human rights–based, culturally appropriate and gender-sensitive; and
- international standards on drug policy, including harm reduction and drug dependence treatment, that are consistent with human rights norms.
What is the drug poisoning crisis and what are supervised consumption services?
Canada is now fully immersed in a drug poisoning crisis — fueled by a contaminated drug supply — that is killing at an alarming rate. From 2016 to 2021, more than 29,052 people have died. In 2021 there were approximately 21 drug poisoning deaths in Canada every day — and it’s not getting any better.
Watch Decriminalize Now: Akia’s Story, a short first-person narrative film about the drug poisoning crisis — and daring to dream of a better future for people who use drugs. We can get there by rethinking repressive drug policy, in Canada and beyond.
Learn more:
HIV Legal Network Submission (January 2025) – Safer Municipalities Act, 2024 — Restricting Public Consumption of Illegal Substances Act, 2024
The HIV Legal Network urges the Ontario government to withdraw the Safer Municipalities Act, which will do nothing to address the crisis of homelessness and drug toxicity deaths in the province, and only further harm people who use drugs, particularly those who are unhoused.
Brief to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women for its Study on Gender-based Violence and Femicides in Canada
Submitted Wednesday, November 20, 2024 to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women.
Rapid Q&A on the “Community Care and Recovery Act, 2024”
On November 18, 2024, the Ontario government tabled Bill 223, Safer Streets, Stronger Communities Act, 2024. While the bill amends several laws, of relevance to drug policy is Schedule 4 of the legislation, titled Community Care and Recovery Act, 2024. This Q&A explains what is entailed in this Act.
Raising the Bar – 2023/2024 Annual Report
The creation of our annual report always gives us a unique opportunity to look back at a year’s worth of important work with hindsight, clarity, and pride. As you will see in Raising the Bar — our 2023/24 annual report — our successes and challenges don’t begin and end with the flip of a calendar … Read more
Know Your Rights: on drug laws for African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) people who use drugs
Across Canada, African, Caribbean, and Black (ACB) people face state-sanctioned violence that is deeply rooted in the legacy of slavery and the enduring presence of anti-Black racism, which manifests in Canada’s drug laws. Black people are racially profiled and disproportionately criminalized and targeted by drug laws, which are themselves rooted in colonialism and the oppression … Read more
Together we can end the harmful “War on Drugs”
Today — International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) — is not just a day of reflection but a call to action. It is a plea to governments, organizations, and individuals to come together and prioritize life, health, and dignity above prejudice and stigma as we push toward a world where people who use substances are met with … Read more
MEDIA STATEMENT: HIV LEGAL NETWORK CELEBRATES 30 YEARS WITH DIGITAL GROWTH AND A NEW PODCAST
Toronto, ON (April 25, 2023) — This year, the HIV Legal Network celebrates its 30th anniversary. Founded in December 1992 as the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, the organization has spent the past three decades advocating to protect the human rights of all people living with or affected by HIV and AIDS, as well as those … Read more
IT’S TIME FOR DRUG DECRIMINALIZATION – DONE RIGHT – NOW
With no time for half-measures, Canada needs full decriminalization nation-wide, led by lived experience and evidence Monday, January 30, 2023 — This week, we are watching with great interest as the possession of some drugs in small amounts will finally be decriminalized in the Province of British Columbia. While in theory a positive step forward … Read more
WORLD AIDS DAY 2022: IT’S TIME TO EQUALIZE, IN CANADA AND BEYOND
November 30, 2022 — Today, the HIV Legal Network marks World AIDS Day by joining with the United Nations (UN) in a call to governments around the world to reform laws, policies, and practices that create and exacerbate the stigma faced by people living with HIV. With this year’s theme being “Equalize,” we are focused … Read more
POINTS OF PERSPECTIVE: NEW REPORT ON NORTH AMERICA’S FIRST-EVER PRISON NEEDLE EXCHANGE PROGRAM (IN CANADA) SHOWS CRITICAL LIMITATIONS AND CHALLENGES
November 29, 2022 — Today, researchers at the HIV Legal Network and Toronto Metropolitan University have released Points of Perspective, the very first national independent study of Canada’s “Prison Needle Exchange Program” (PNEP). It is based on interviews with people formerly incarcerated in federal prisons across the country and provides an overview of the PNEP … Read more