Publication Language: English

Podcast – The Terrible Impact of Canadian Drug Laws on Black and Indigenous Communities

The HIV Legal Network recently launched a pair of new resources designed to provide information about Canada’s confusing and racist drug laws, for Black and Indigenous people. For Indigenous communities, these “Know Your Rights” resources were produced in partnership with CAAN, Communities, Alliances and Networks. For African, Caribbean, and Black communities, we worked with the … Read more

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

Know Your Rights: on drug laws for Indigenous people who use drugs

Drug policy in Canada is rooted in racism and colonialism, and Indigenous communities have experienced long histories of drug policy harms. Among Indigenous people living with HIV, transmissions are attributable to injection drug use at a much higher rate than for non-Indigenous populations, while Indigenous peoples have also suffered a disproportionate proportion of fatal overdoses … Read more

Connection, Care, Community

Drug policy affects the health of queer people and communities. The health of queer people who use drugs must not be overlooked in our fight for sensible drug policy. And 2SLGBTQ+ rights organizations must not ignore the rights and health of queer people who use drugs. Our new resources aim to raise awareness and build … Read more

How to Innovate in an Emergency

This paper examines the legal and policy measures needed to scale up safe supply at supervised consumption services in Canada.    

SCALING UP SUPERVISED CONSUMPTION SERVICES: WHAT HAS CHANGED IN CANADA?

In a report released in 2019, the HIV Legal Network explored the state of SCS in Canada in the previous year, described and analyzed legal and policy developments related to SCS implementation since their first inception, identified barriers and facilitators faced by current and future SCS operators, and formulated a series of recommendations primarily targeting the … Read more