Publications

Joint submission by the HIV Legal Network and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition Secretariat of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding increasing calls in Canada for involuntary care and detention of people who use drugs.

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

On September 21, 2023, the HIV Legal Network hosted the “Violence Against Women (VAW) Shelter Harm Reduction Roundtable” in Toronto, Ontario. The Legal Network invited front-line staff, directors, and peers from VAW shelters, emergency shelters, and transition houses across Canada. Our goal was to learn from these shelters and transition houses, which are engaged in … Read more

In 2023, the federal Standing Committee on Health began a study on the ‘Opioid Epidemic and Toxic Drug Crisis’. The HIV Legal Network, together with the Centre on Drug Policy Evaluation, submitted a joint brief in 2024 detailing key legal determinants of health that have spurred the toxic drug crisis, focusing on the need for … Read more

In 2023, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (the UN Committee of independent experts in charge of overseeing the implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) announced that it would prepare its first ever General Comment on drug policy to describe how drug laws and practices affect the enjoyment … Read more

To view the 2022-2023 annual report, click here.

Joint Submission to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 52/24 entitled “Contribution of the Human Rights Council with regard to the human rights implications of drug policy”

Despite ample empirical evidence demonstrating the effectiveness of needle and syringe programs, the federal Correctional Service of Canada (CSC) refused for decades to implement this essential prison harm reduction program. After years of inaction, in 2012 the HIV Legal Network along with Steve Simons, a man formerly incarcerated in a federal prison, and three HIV … Read more

Introducing Our New Podcast: Not a Crime Today, on International Drug Users Day, we will begin sharing stories of criminalization from around the world through our new podcast, Not a Crime. Featuring interviews with our policy analysts along with people working farther afield, Not a Crime will highlight the impact of criminalization on people living … Read more