Vancouver Declaration
Why the world needs an international network of activists who use drugs
We are people from around the world who use drugs. We are people who have been marginalized and discriminated against; we have been killed, harmed unnecessarily, put in jail, depicted as evil, and stereotyped as dangerous and disposable . Now it is time to raise our voices as citizens, establish our rights and reclaim the right to be our own spokespersons striving for self-representation and self-empowerment:
- To enable and empower people who use drugs legal or deemed illegal worldwide to survive, thrive and exert our voices as human beings to have meaningful input into all decisions that affect our own lives.
- To promote a better understanding of the experiences of people who use illegal drugs, and particularly of the destructive impact of current drug policies affecting drug users, as well as our non-using fellow-citizens: this is as an important element in the local, national, regional and international development of these social policies.
- To use our own skills and knowledge to train and educate others, particularly our peers and any other fellow-citizens concerned with drugs in our communities.
- To advocate for universal access to all the tools available to reduce the harm that people who use drugs face in their day-to-day lives, including, i) drug treatment, appropriate medical care for substance use , ii) regulated access to the pharmaceutical quality drugs we need ii) availability of safer consumption equipment, including syringes and pipes as well as iii) facilities for their safe disposal, iv) peer outreach and honest up-to-date information about drugs and all of their uses, including v) safe consumption facilities that are necessary for many of us.
- To establish our right to evidence-based and objective information about drugs, and how to protect ourselves against the potential negative impacts of drug use through universal access to equitable and comprehensive health and social services, safe, affordable, supportive housing and employment opportunities.
- To provide support to established local, national, regional, and international networks of people living with HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis and other harm reduction groups, making sure that active drug users are included at every level of decision-making, and specifically that we are able to serve on the boards (of directors) of such organizations and be fairly reimbursed for our expenses, time and skills.
- To challenge the national legislation and international lconventions that currently disable most of us from living safe, secure and healthy lives.
Well aware of the potential challenges of building such a network, we strive for:
- Value and respect diversity and recognize each other's different backgrounds, knowledge, skills and capabilities, and cultivate a safe and supportive environment within the network regardless of which drugs we use or how we use them.
- Spread information about our work in order to support and encourage development of user organizations in communities/countries where there are no such organizations.
- Promote tolerance, cooperation and collaboration, fostering a culture of inclusion and active participation.
- Democratic principles and creating a structure that promotes maximum participation in decision making.
- Maximum inclusion with special focus to those who are disproportionately vulnerable to oppression on the basis of their gender identity, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, religion, etc.
- To ensure that people who use drugs are not incarcerated and that those who are incarcerated have an equal right to healthy and respectful conditions and treatment, including drug treatment and access to health-promoting supplies such as syringes and condoms and medical treatment or at least equal to that they would receive outside.
- To challenge execution and other inhuman treatment of people who use drugs worldwide.
Ultimately, the most profound need to establish such a network arises from the fact that no group of oppressed people ever attained liberation without the involvement of those directly affected by this oppression. Through collective action, we will fight to change existing local, national, regional and international drug laws and formulate an evidence-based drug policy that respects people's human rights and dignity instead of one fuelled on moralism, stereotypes and lies.
The International Activists who use drugs
30 April 2006, Vancouver Canada
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Comments
Vancouver Declaration
This is very didactic information for all the people of the world. As we know the fact that drug is made for the welfare of human beings. Unfortunately, misuse of drugs can create great problem in the community. Especially, backward and marginalized people who are affected because of illiterate and ignorance about the anti effect of misusing the drugs. The people must be sensitized in this regard for better understanding of using drugs.
drug use
Hi,
I'm sure many drug user will be glad about this. And the campaign to all drug users wouldn't be so hard since I'm sure all users can benefit from this. And not only that making it legal means evrybody can now use it so, it will be easier for them to buy and sell drugs all around the world.
At some point, they probably miss to realized that this may not be helpful to young ones. It will just encourage them to use and be involve in drug addiction which is what we are trying to avoid. And also we know that most violence is a result of high addictive to drugs.
Pacific Summit on Drug User Health/VANDU President Sharon Messag
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, held first Pacific Summit on Drug User Health and have formed a network now named,
"BC Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors."
Sharon Message
VANDU President
380 East Hastings
Vancouver, BC V6A 1P4
Phone: 604-683-6061 Fax: 604-683-6199
E-mail: vandu@vandu.org
for more information contact Ann Livingston
E-mail: annlive@telus.net
Report on The Pacific Summit on Drug User Health
Pacific Summit on Drug User Health
It was a wonderful privilege to be given an opportunity to take part in the Pacific Summit on Drug User Health, June 12-14, 2009 in Vancouver. This Summit, which was run by users for users, was organized and hosted by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) with generous funding of $50,000 received from the Vancouver Foundation.
VANDU pulled off a fantastic conference with such modest funding. In fact, they did at least as much as most organizations would accomplish with a budget twice as big. Most significantly, the Summit was a drug users gathering in its entirety, from its inception, its many months of preparation, and most importantly, all who participated in the actual three days of meetings in Vancouver.
VANDU brought together nearly 100 drug user activists from all corners of B.C., such towns as Fort St. John, Nelson, Prince George, Prince Rupert, Port Hardy, Grand Forks, Nanaimo, Victoria, Merritt, Abbottsford, Kamloops, from Whitehorse in the Yukon, and even a couple of user activists from eastern Ontario. So many active drug user participants got to meet one another, network, brainstorm, focus, eat and party together, and in the end of a busy three days, we accomplished the formation of the B.C. Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors.
Besides VANDU being an organized user group, three other cities were represented by user groups at the Summit. From Victoria came several members of SOLID (Society of Living Intravenous Drug Users), from Nelson came members of REDUN (Rural Empowered Drug Users Network), and from Kingston, Ontario were two members of UNDUN (Unified Networkers of Drug Users Nationally).
VANDU was successful in providing hotel rooms and meeting space for the Summit at the lovely downtown Vancouver Delta Hotel on West Hastings, just two blocks west of the impoverished Downtown Eastside, the home neighborhood to so many hardcore poor and aboriginal community members, and ultimately, the sad and tragic end of the road for too many thousands of drug war victims during the past couple of decades. The Downtown Eastside is the home neighborhood of VANDU.
In spite of much reason for despair and helplessness, the spirit of the Summit was upbeat and hopeful and the participants, most who came directly from the streets themselves, were unified by a shared commitment to resistance and common cause. The Summit was definitely a testament to the strength and resilience of drug users and the collective power we share when organizing together.
Of all the many conferences I’ve attended, this Pacific Summit on Drug User Health was the most impressive I’ve ever been to. One sees by the speakers from VANDU and its Board of Directors that it is the real deal when it comes to an organized group of drug users. All its members are from the life and in the life but nonetheless they have learnt how to work together to stand up for all people who use drugs.
It was so fantastic to take part in a gathering of actual users, instead of a conference of professionals and social workers. Real active drug users attended, many of whom were also sisters of the street trade back home. VANDU was very proactive in taking care of Summit attendees by having something they called the “Bunk Prevention Team”. The Bunk Prevention Team was made up of VANDU Board Members and they were identifiable by their red armbands. All attendees were provided with a notice that said “In order to avoid rip-offs … contact them for a drug tour after conference hours”. VANDU understands that if active users are going to travel then they need to be assured they can safely and assuredly score in the city a conference is being held in.
Another very cool thing about VANDU as a users organization is its support for all users. VANDU members made statements during the Summit that they are committed to advocating for the needs of crack users just as much as they support heroin users. This commitment is illustrated in the Summit logo which shows a crack pipe along side a syringe. In fact, during the Summit one VANDU Board member challenged a lawyer who was presenting about the struggle for the InSite safer injection site. The Board member stated it was all well and fine that the lawyers fight for services for injectors, but asked when will they be launching legal fights on behalf of smokers. This point was well taken and the lawyer agreed that it is high time that the concerns of crack smokers be translated into a legal case on their behalf.
VANDU just recently celebrated its tenth anniversary. It has grown from small weekly outdoor meetings of a couple dozen users to a strong organization of some 2000 drug users with a large and active office. VANDU runs several groups within its membership, such as the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, the B.C. Association of People on Methadone, and an active Women’s Group.
I was blown away by the professionalism of the VANDU members in facilitating one workshop after another, and in guiding group discussions, all of which lead to us collectively agreeing upon a six point statement of unity for the B.C. Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors:
1. We are a group of survivors of the drug war.
2. We strive for social justice and advocate for rights for people who use drugs.
3. “Our lives, our voices, our way” – people who use drugs must have real representation and power within institutions that have a significant impact on our lives.
4. We work to eliminate the discrimination, criminalization, stigmatization, and isolation of people who use drugs in all areas of political, social and economic areas of life.
5. We are against the prohibition of drugs and in favour of a regulated system of distribution of currently illicit substances.
6. We recognize that different groups are differently effected by the harms associated with drug use, and therefore, that they may need to organize autonomously as well as part of the larger group. We support the self-directed empowerment of drug war survivors and are committed to diversity and autonomy of our membership.
You can find VANDU on the web at www.vandu.org or phone its office at 604-683-6061
Report by Brent Taylor
- Coordinator of UNDUN, a user group from eastern Ontario www.undun.org