{"id":23756,"date":"2023-08-31T08:31:42","date_gmt":"2023-08-31T12:31:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/?post_type=news22&p=23756"},"modified":"2023-08-31T08:31:42","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T12:31:42","slug":"together-we-can-end-the-harmful-war-on-drugs","status":"publish","type":"news22","link":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/together-we-can-end-the-harmful-war-on-drugs\/","title":{"rendered":"Together we can end the harmful \u201cWar on Drugs\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"Today \u2014 International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) \u2014 is not just a day of reflection but a call to action. It\u00a0is 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 understanding and support.<\/p>\n

Substance use is criminalized in many parts of the world, and people who use drugs face perilous discrimination, including in the form of punitive drug laws and policies. In Canada, this has created a drug poisoning crisis that claimed a staggering 36,442 lives between January 2016 and December 2022. <\/strong><\/p>\n

It is clear that the so-called \u201cWar on Drugs\u201d has failed. We know that reliance on a criminal law response is counter-productive, expensive, and above all, harmful. It is time for Canada to adopt a human rights\u2013based approach to drug policy<\/strong>, which includes, among other things, decriminalizing all drug possession for personal use and selling and sharing drugs for subsistence, to support personal drug use costs, and to provide a safe supply.<\/p>\n

The 2021 civil society report \u2014 Decriminalization Done Right: A Rights-Based Path for Drug Policy<\/em><\/a> \u2014 presents a pathway for implementing drug decriminalization across Canada, which will not only eliminate the harms of criminal legal interventions, but will also provide opportunities to redirect law-enforcement resources toward supporting people\u2019s access to housing, income and food security, harm reduction and other health services, and other social determinants of health. <\/strong><\/p>\n

Recognizing the Unseen<\/strong><\/p>\n

The theme for IOAD 2023 is \u201cRecognizing those people who go unseen.\u201d It is a poignant reminder that the ramifications of overdose ripple out far beyond the individual directly affected.<\/p>\n

The “unseen” are the grieving families and friends, who bear the weight of an irreplaceable loss. They are the healthcare and support workers, working tirelessly in the background to keep people safe and alive. They are the bystanders-turned-heroes, who immediately jumped in to save a life. To these pillars of strength, we extend our gratitude and say: #WeSeeYou.<\/p>\n

Through a lens of compassion and understanding, Moms Stop the Harm (MSTH) is fighting for a society where people who use drugs have their rights and dignity upheld, by advocating to change failed drug policies<\/strong>, providing peer support to grieving families, and assisting those with loved ones who use or have used drugs.<\/p>\n

Today, MSTH chapters across Canada are hosting events to remember the lives that have been lost in their communities, including protests, naloxone training, and public education. Some communities will feature solemn exhibitions that demonstrate the magnitude of the losses experienced, such as the \u201cPurple Chair\u201d campaign, which places empty purple chairs in communities to serve as memorials for each life taken by drug poisoning.\u00a0 Many communities will also feature Candlelight Vigils of Remembrance. To find out what is happening in your community, please visit: www.momsstoptheharm.com\/ioad23<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For more events happening on International Overdose Awareness Day, please visit: https:\/\/www.overdoseday.com\/events-2023\/<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today \u2014 International Overdose Awareness Day (IOAD) \u2014 is not just a day of reflection but a call to action. It\u00a0is 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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"publication_topics":[147,155],"publication_language":[184,185],"class_list":["post-23756","news22","type-news22","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","publication_topics-drug-policy","publication_topics-prisons","publication_language-english","publication_language-french"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22\/23756","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news22"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22\/23756\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23759,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news22\/23756\/revisions\/23759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23756"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"publication_topics","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_topics?post=23756"},{"taxonomy":"publication_language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hivlegalnetwork.ca\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication_language?post=23756"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}