Crackdown Podcast . 2022-12-09 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-12-09

Episode 35: On the Clock

Image: A woman walks her leashed dog along a snow-lined cement path. The dog is a white pit bull with a black jacket-vest on. The woman is facing away from the camera and her head is not visible. She wears black boots, plants, and jacket, with a large purse hanging across her back. (Vancouver, BC) (Photo: Alex de Boer)

Sex workers who use drugs are doubly criminalized. They have to look out for bad dope and bad dates. And change comes slow.

Fights for incremental change don’t get at the big structures that cause so much harm. Are they worth it?

We wonder about this when it comes to drug decriminalization. Next year it’ll be legal to carry small amounts of opioids, meth, coke and MDMA in British Columbia. We fought hard for this. Of course, the government’s concession is a watered down version of our original demand. But limiting police discretion to lock us up is a step in the right direction. At least we hope so.

The prohibition of sex work began centuries before drug prohibition. Sex workers have long had dangerous working conditions imposed on them by puritanic laws. The criminalization of drug use and sex work has made both unnecessarily risky.

But reforms have been won over the years. In 2014, selling sex was decriminalized in Canada. And since 2020, BC has offered a version of safer supply to a few thousand drug users.

In the wilderness of laws that continue to criminalize most aspects of sex work and most aspects of drug use – do these reforms matter? On today’s episode I explore this idea with sex worker advocates, Jlynn and Jade, as well as academics, Andrea Krüsi and Jenn McDermid.

Transcript:

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Call to Action & Political Demands:

We need a real, accessible and regulated safe supply.

We need to decriminalize sex work and remove all criminal code provisions that relate to any aspect of sex work.

Sex workers need to be at the table to build a future that allows safety and dignity in their jobs.

We need to take the safety concerns of sex works seriously. Especially when it comes to predatory clients.

Learning Outcomes:

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work.

Episode 35 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

The criminalization of sex work in Canada
The dual criminalization faced by sex workers who use drugs
Impacts of the volatile illicit drug supply on sex workers who use drugs
Gender-based violence faced by sex workers
Impacts of BC’s Risk Mitigation prescribing program on sex workers who use drugs

Works Cited & Suggested Reading:

Allen, Mary and Cristine Rotenberg. “Crimes Related to the Sex Trade: Before and after Legislative Changes in Canada.” (2021). https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/85-002-x/2021001/article/00010-eng.htm.

Benoit, C, and L Shumka. “Sex Work in Canada.” (Understanding) Sex Work: A Health Research & Community Partnership. (2021; updated). https://www.understandingsexwork.ca/sex-work-canada.

Dowd, Allan. “Canadian Prosecutors Say Pickton Wanted to Kill 50,” Reuters, January 22, 2007. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-killings-idUSN2240655620070122.

Goldenberg, Shira, Chelsey Perry, Sarah Watt, Brittany Bingham, Melissa Braschel, and Kate Shannon. “Violence, Policing, and Systemic Racism as Structural Barriers to Substance Use Treatment amongst Women Sex Workers Who Use Drugs: Findings of a Community-Based Cohort in Vancouver, Canada (2010–2019).” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 237 (2022): 109506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2022.109506.

Goldenberg, Shira, Sarah Watt, Melissa Braschel, Kanna Hayashi, Sarah Moreheart, and Kate Shannon. “Police-Related Barriers to Harm Reduction Linked to Non-Fatal Overdose amongst Sex Workers Who Use Drugs: Results of a Community-Based Cohort in Metro Vancouver, Canada.” International Journal of Drug Policy 76 (2020): 102618. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2019.102618.

“Harms of End-Demand Criminalization: Impact of Canada’s PCEPA Laws on Sex Workers’ Safety, Health & Human Rights.” Centre for Gender & Sexual Health Equity. 2019. https://www.cgshe.ca/app/uploads/2019/12/Harms_2019.12.16.v1.pdf.

Krüsi, Andrea, K. Pacey, L. Bird, C. Taylor, J. Chettiar, S. Allan, D. Bennett, J. S. Montaner, T. Kerr, and K. Shannon. “Criminalisation of Clients: Reproducing Vulnerabilities for Violence and Poor Health among Street-Based Sex Workers in Canada--a Qualitative Study.” BMJ Open 4 no.6 (2014): e005191–e005191. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2014-005191.

Krüsi, Andrea, Jill Chettiar, Amelia Ridgway, Janice Abbott, Steffanie A. Strathdee, and Kate Shannon. “Negotiating Safety and Sexual Risk Reduction With Clients in Unsanctioned Safer Indoor Sex Work Environments: A Qualitative Study.” Am J Public Health 102 no.6 (2012): 1154–59. https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2011.300638.

Krüsi, Andrea, Thomas Kerr, Christina Taylor, Tim Rhodes, and Kate Shannon. “‘They Won‘t Change It Back in Their Heads That We’re Trash’: The Intersection of Sex Work-Related Stigma and Evolving Policing Strategies.” Sociology of Health & Illness 38 no.7 (2016): 1137–50. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12436.

Krüsi, Andrea, Flo Ranville, Lulu Gurney, Tara Lyons, Jean Shoveller, and Kate Shannon. “Positive Sexuality: HIV Disclosure, Gender, Violence and the Law—A Qualitative Study.” PLoS ONE 13 no.8 (2018): e0202776. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0202776.

Lavalley, Jennifer, Alex B. Collins, Samara Mayer, Laurel Gaudette, Andrea Krüsi, Ryan McNeil, and Jade Boyd. “Negotiating Sex Work and Client Interactions in the Context of a Fentanyl-Related Overdose Epidemic.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 23 no.10 (2020): 1390–1405. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1785550.

Lefebvre, Charles. “‘No Hope’ of Successful Recovery of Alleged Serial Killer’s Victims in Landfill: Winnipeg Police,” CTV News, December 6, 2022. https://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/no-hope-of-successful-recovery-of-alleged-serial-killer-s-victims-in-landfill-winnipeg-police-1.6183195.

McBride, Bronwyn, Kate Shannon, Alka Murphy, Sherry Wu, Margaret Erickson, Shira M. Goldenberg, and Andrea Krüsi. “Harms of Third Party Criminalisation under End-Demand Legislation: Undermining Sex Workers’ Safety and Rights.” Culture, Health & Sexuality 23 no.9 (2021): 1165–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/13691058.2020.1767305.

Moraff, Christopher, Troy Farah, and Zachary Seigel. “Episode 62: Policing Pleasure — The Intersection of Sex Work and Drug Use with Tamika Spellman and Caty Simon.” Narcotica Podcast, September, 2021. https://itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1390336378.

“National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, Reclaiming Power and Place: The Final Report of the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls.” National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, 2019. https://www.mmiwg-ffada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/Final_Report_Vol_1b.pdf.

“Risk Mitigation Guidelines in the Context of Dual Public Emergencies: Interim Clinical Guidelines.” British Columbia Centre on Substance Use. 2020. https://www.bccsu.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Risk-Mitigation-in-the-Context-of-Dual-Public-Health-Emergencies-v1.5.pdf.

Shannon, Kate, Steffanie A Strathdee, Shira M Goldenberg, Putu Duff, Peninah Mwangi, Maia Rusakova, Sushena Reza-Paul, Joseph Lau, Kathleen Deering, and Michael R Pickles. “Global Epidemiology of HIV among Female Sex Workers: Influence of Structural Determinants.” The Lancet 385 no.9962 (2015): 55–71. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(14)60931-4.

Shannon, K., Strathdee, S. A., Goldenberg, S. M., Duff, P., Mwangi, P., Rusakova, M., Reza-Paul, S., Lau, J., Deering, K., & Pickles, M. R. (2015). Global epidemiology of HIV among female sex workers: influence of structural determinants. The Lancet, 385(9962), 55–71.

“Supreme Court Strikes down Canada’s Prostitution Laws,” CBC News, December 20, 2013. https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/supreme-court-strikes-down-canada-s-prostitution-laws-1.2471572.

Credits:

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh Nations.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. And, rest in peace, Dave Murray, Greg Fresz and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex de Boer, Lisa Hale, and me, Garth Mullins.

Big thanks to Jenn McDermid for her research and coordination work. Thanks to Rory Marck, Kerry Porth and PACE Society for their guidance.

Thanks to Patricia Monty, Barbra Bevvington, Crystal Ritchot and Eden Boyer for their consultation work.

Special thanks to Jade and Jlynn for making sure we got the story right.

Our academic director is Ryan McNeil. Academic advising and direction for this episode was provided by Professor Jade Boyd.

Intro documentary clip from Hookers on Davie on the Vancouver Archives website.

Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Score by James Ash.

Crackdown is funded, in part, by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. This episode was also produced with support from the CRISM People With Lived Expertise of Drug Use National Working Group. Thanks to CRISM for all of their help!

If you like what we do, support us at patreon.com/crackdownpod.

Thanks for listening. Stay safe and keep six.

Crackdown Podcast . 2022-07-19 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-07-19

Episode 34: The Iron Law

Drug decriminalization is coming to British Columbia. And that’s a big step forward.

*Image: November 11, 1922. Bureau of Prohibition agents with confiscated still for making bootleg alcohol. Washington, DC, USA. (Source: Library of Congress)*

Drug decriminalization is coming to British Columbia. And that’s a big step forward.

Our movement has been fighting for decriminalization for decades. To us, decriminalization means getting cops, courts and jails out of our lives. It means police stop harassing, arresting and seizing dope off of us.

For the past year, VANDU sent Garth and others to sit on a government committee and fight for this vision. Unsurprisingly, much of our advice was disregarded.

But the cops fought for low thresholds -- and won. That means that a big proportion of drug users in BC will remain criminalized.

Cops and politicians have also made noise about ramping up enforcement on dealers. On today’s show, I talk to Leo Beletsky about why this is a bad idea that could make the overdose crisis even worse.

Transcript

A complete transcript of this episode is in preparation and will be published here when ready.

Rest in Peace

I’d like to acknowledge the loss of two amazing community leaders this month.

Kat Norris was a comrade and fighter from Lyackson First Nation. I got to know Kat when community groups banded together to fight the extra policing and gentrification that came with Vancouver’s 2010 Olympics. Kat’s been sticking up for people in East Vancouver since the late 1970s and was famous for her fry bread giveaways.

We’d also like to say goodbye to Chrissy Brett. Chrissy was from the Nuxalk Nation (New-hulk). She organized and acted as a spokesperson and defender for many tent encampments in Victoria and Vancouver, including at Oppenheimer Park.

—Garth

Credits

Crackdown is produced on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. And rest in peace, Dave Murray, Greg Fresz and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex De Boer, Lisa Hale, Jade Boyd, and Garth Mullins.

Intellectual Direction for this episode by Jade Boyd.

Sound design by Alexander Kim. Original score was written and performed by James Ash, Sam Fenn, and Garth Mullins.

Special thanks to Professor Magdalena Harris for her time and research on the UK heroin shortage.

If you like what we do, please consider donating at patreon.com/crackdownpod.

Crackdown is funded in part by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Stay safe and keep six.

Crackdown Podcast . 2022-06-16 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-06-16

Episode 33: You Will Not Destroy Me

A spectre is haunting BC’s overdose crisis — the ghost of Riverview Hospital.

Garth recently learned that his great grandmother, Rosa Mullins, spent more than 26 years locked in Riverview. Garth and his father Gary head to Riverview to find Rosa. Garth digs deep into her medical records and doctors notes and Crackdown even manages to get inside of the old hospital itself.

*Image: Garth Mullins sitting in front of the Centre Lawn Building on Riverview Hospital grounds on kʷikʷəƛ̓əm territory (Coquitlam, B.C.) (Photo: Alexander Kim)*

A spectre is haunting BC’s overdose crisis — the ghost of Riverview Hospital.

Riverview was one of the province’s main psychiatric hospitals for a century. The giant complex – sitting on 1,000 acres of kʷikʷəƛ̓əm territory just outside of Vancouver – was largely closed in 2012. Today it’s a popular horror film shoot location.

Garth recently learned that his great grandmother, Rosa Mullins, spent more than 26 years locked in Riverview. Garth and his father Gary head to Riverview to find Rosa. Garth digs deep into her medical records and doctors notes and Crackdown even manages to get inside of the old hospital itself.

The hospital is closed, but it’s not abandoned. The province plans to reopen Riverview as a site for mental health and addictions treatment. Police, politicians and pundits have never stopped dreaming of our banishment. And in recent decades, involuntary detention under the Mental Health Act has soared. We demand an end to involuntary treatment and access to justice for involuntarily detained patients.

***

CW: Starting at around 22 minutes in, there are two brief historical reenactments of electroconvulsive therapy AKA electroshock. The episode also discusses suicide and psychiatric incarceration.

[Update 07/06/22] After the release of this episode, a spokesperson for BC Housing told Crackdown that, while there are ongoing mental health and substance use services at səmiq̓ʷəʔelə (formerly Riverview), they still haven't decided what to do with the site. BC Housing says they will work with the kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nation to explore options, but "reopening or recreating what was formerly known as Riverview Hospital is not an option that the partners will explore."

Transcript

A full transcript is available here.

Call to Action & Political Demands

Drug users’ human rights must be at the centre of any solution to the overdose crisis. Incarceration and mandatory treatment obliterate those rights. Plus, they don't work. Solutions must involve us as partners or leaders - not prisoners. Health systems cannot be jails. Drug users and people with mental illnesses can no longer be banished from society.

Drug users must be decriminalized, not re-criminalized or institutionalized.

Young drug users must not be subject to involuntary detention as was proposed in BC’s Bill 22. Forced or coerced treatment doesn’t work.

BC’s Mental Health Act must be overhauled. We need stronger oversight, more preventative supports and better ongoing consultation with people who use drugs and people with mental illness.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work.

Episode 33 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Institutionalization as a philosophy of care for people with mental illness.

Involuntary and coercive psychiatric treatment in BC.

The intersection of mental health and substance use.

Gendered experiences of psychiatric detention.

Works Cited

Burr, Ashley. “History of Riverview Hospital: The birth of Coquitlam's controversial psychiatric facility.” CityNews Vancouver, November 30, 2020. https://bit.ly/3HdcTBc.

CTV British Columbia. “Mayors calling for re-opening of Riverview Hospital.” CTV News. August 26, 2013. https://bit.ly/3xm0IgC.

CTV Vancouver. “Reopen Riverview as addiction treatment centre, Coquitlam mayor urges.” CTV News, January 24, 2017. https://bc.ctvnews.ca/reopen-riverview-as-addiction-treatment-centre-coquitlam-mayor-urges-1.3255837.

Davies, Megan J. “The Patients’ World: British Columbia’s Mental Health Facilities, 1910-1935.” MA, Thesis, University of Waterloo, 1989.

Johal, Jas & Meiszner, Peter. “Idea of re-opening Riverview Hospital gains traction.” Global News, August 26, 2013. https://globalnews.ca/news/803311/idea-of-re-opening-riverview-hospital-gains-traction/.

Kelm, Mary-Ellen. "The only place likely to do her any good": The Admission of Women to British Columbia's Provincial Hospital for the Insane,” BC studies Vol 9 (1992).

Kelm, Mary-Ellen. “Women, Families and the Provincial Hospital for the Insane, British Columbia, 1905-1915,” Journal of Family History Vol 19 no. 2 (Fall 1994): p. 72. https://doi.org/10.3138/cbmh.11.2.335.

Kʷikʷəƛ̓əm First Nation. “History of Riverview.” Accessed December 10, 2021. https://www.kwikwetlem.com/sumiqwuelu-riverview.htm#history.

Kolar, Marina. “Involuntary and Coercive Psychiatric Treatment: A Critical Discourse Analysis of British Columbia’s Mental Health Act.” PhD diss., University of British Columbia, 2018.

Merrill, Andrew. “Riverview Heritage Inventory.” MA Thesis, University of British Columbia, School of Community and Regional Planning, 2009.

“Riverview.” The Last Asylum Exhibit. Accessed December 9, 2021: https://aftertheasylum.ca/.

Rosenbloom, Michael. “Chlorpromazine and the Psychopharmacologic Revolution.” JAMA. 2002; 287(14):1860–1861. doi:10.1001/jama.287.14.1860-JMS0410-6-1.

Sadowsky, Jonathan. “Beyond the metaphor of the pendulum: electroconvulsive therapy, psychoanalysis, and the styles of American psychiatry.” J Hist Med Allied Sci. 2006 Jan;61(1): 8-10. doi: 10.1093/jhmas/jrj001. Epub 2005 Oct 20. PMID: 16239498.

Wyton, Moira. “Forced Mental Health Treatment Spikes in BC.” The Tyee, November 23, 2021. https://thetyee.ca/News/2021/11/23/BC-Forced-Mental-Health-Treatment-Spikes/.

Additional Suggested Reading

Battersby, Lupin and Marina Morrow. “Challenges in Implementing Recovery-Based Mental Health Care Practices in Psychiatric Tertiary Care.” Canadian Journal of Community Mental Health 31, no. 2 (2012): 103: https://doi.org/10.7870/cjcmh-2012-0016.

Boschma, Geertje. “Deinstitutionalization Reconsidered: Geographic and Demographic Changes in Mental Health Care in British Columbia and Alberta, 1950–1980.” Histoire Sociale/Social History 44, no. 88 (2011): 223–256.

Boyd, Jade and Thomas Kerr. “Policing ‘Vancouver’s mental health crisis’: a critical discourse analysis.” Critical public health 26, no. 4, (2016): 418-433. https://doi.org/10.1080/09581596.2015.1007923.

Boyd, Jade, Susan Boyd and Thomas Kerr. “Visual and narrative representations of mental health and addiction by law enforcement.” International Journal of Drug Policy 26, no. 7 (2015): 636–644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2015.04.007.

Davies, Megan J. “Democracy is a Very Radical Idea.” In Mad matters: a critical reader in Canadian mad studies, edited by Brenda A. LeFrançois, Robert Menzies, and Geoffrey Reaume, 49-63. Toronto: Canadian Scholars' Press Inc., 2013.

Davies, Megan J. “Into the House of Old: A History of Residential Care in British Columbia.” Montreal: McGill–Queen’s University Press, 2003.

MacKinnon, Agnes. I carried a key: three years in a mental hospital: a nurse's story. North Vancouver, B.C.: A. Mackinnon; Kelaona, B.C.: Distributed by Sandhill Book Marketing, 1996.

Reaume, Geoffrey. Remembrance of patients past: patient life at the Toronto Hospital for the Insane, 1870-1940. Don Mills, Ont.: Oxford University Press, 2000.

Roman, Leslie G., Sheena Brown, Steven Noble, Rafael Wainer and Alannah Earl Young. “No time for nostalgia!: asylum making, medicalized colonialism in British Columbia (1859–97) and artistic praxis for social transformation.” International journal of qualitative studies in education, 22 , no.1 (2009): 17-63. https://doi.org/10.1080/09518390802581919.

Ronquillo, Charlene. "Deinstitutionalization of Mental Health Care in British Columbia: A Critical Examination of the Role of Riverview Hospital from 1950 to 2000.” The Proceedings of the 18th Annual History of Medicine Days, March 6th and 7th, 2009. University of Calgary, Faculty of Medicine, Calgary, AB: 11-26. http://hdl.handle.net/1880/48968.

Scott, Ken. “SOCIETY, PLACE, WORK: The BC public hospital for the insane, 1872-1902.” BC Studies 171, (Autumn 2011): 93-110.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

This episode was created in kʷikʷəƛ̓əm territory. Special thanks to KFN staff member Jill Stauber.

If you like what we do, please consider donating to the show on Patreon.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. And, Rest in Peace Dave Murray, Greg Fresz and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex de Boer, Lisa Hale, Liz McDonald and Garth Mullins.

Original score by James Ash.

Our academic director is Ryan McNeil. Academic advising and direction for this episode was provided by Professor Jade Boyd.

Thanks to historical researcher Isin Can for her research and archival work.

The immersive, binaural 360 sound historical reenactments you heard were created and produced by Glen Neath, David Rosenberg, Victoria Eyton and Anna Sulley. Voice acting by Kasper Michaels, Alyssa J. Donahue, Adam Khedheri, Alexander Osborne and Sonya Cullingford as Rosa. Piano by Nicholas Brown.

Project management by Sam Fenn and Brenda Longfellow.

Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Thanks to Megan Davies and Geertje Boschma for their guidance and research. Additional thanks to Chris Dooley, Patty Gazzolla, Arthur Giovinazzo, Nicole Luongo, Gabrielle Peters, Kat Wahamaa and Megan Linton.

This episode in no way reflects the opinions of BC Housing who allowed us access to one of the Riverview heritage buildings.

Crackdown is funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Additional funding for this episode was provided by the UK/Canada Immersive Exchange.

Crackdown Podcast . 2022-05-18 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-05-18

Episode 32: Goodbye Greg

Last month, Crackdown Editorial Board member Greg Fresz passed away. As usual, we held a memorial for our comrade at VANDU. Sadly, we do this a lot.

But for the revolutionary, death is not the end.

Image: Greg Fresz addresses the crowd at a rally for safe supply on April 14, 2022 in Vancouver. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

Last month, Crackdown Editorial Board member Greg Fresz passed away. As usual, we held a memorial for our comrade at VANDU. Sadly, we do this a lot.

There’s nothing really that makes this constant death feel better, but at least we can feel “not better” together. That camaraderie? It's the only thing that helps.

When we come together to mourn our dead, there’s grief, but also anger. And resolve. Our memorials are political actions. For the revolutionary, death is not the end.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories.

If you like what we do, please consider donating at patreon.com/crackdowpod.

Special thanks to Brent Olson and Susan Boyd for taking time out to share their memories of Greg with us.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. And, rest in Peace Greg Fresz, Dave Murray, and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex de Boer, Liz McDonald, Jade Boyd, Lisa Hale and Garth Mullins.

Our academic director is Ryan McNeil.

Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Original score was written and performed by James Ash.

Crackdown is funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Thanks for listening. Stay safe and keep six.

Crackdown Podcast . 2022-04-22 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-04-22

Episode 31: Love, Death and Benzodope

Can Martin and Laura's fairy tale love story survive benzodope – the next lethal era of the drug war?

Over the past four years, British Columbia has seen an uptick in strange and dangerous overdoses: people passed out for hours, not responding to narcan, sleep-walking, having their memories wiped, getting robbed and assaulted. And deaths have spiked. Again.

Image: Laura Shaver and Martin Steward pose for a picture. Laura wears a backwards Christmas-themed baseball cap. Martin wears a baseball cap, camouflage t-shirt and a skull pendant on a cord around his neck. Martin has his arm around Laura’s shoulders. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

Can Martin and Laura's fairy tale love story survive benzodope – the next lethal era of the drug war?

British Columbia has seen a surge of unusual overdoses - including Martin and Laura’s. People are passing out for hours, losing their memories, and getting robbed and assaulted. And deaths have spiked. Again.

But our community is responding. Harm Reduction workers like Trey Helten at the Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society are coming up with ways to keep people OD-ing on benzodope safe and alive – all without adequate resources or space. You can donate to Vancouver OPS here.

Benzo contamination of the drug supply continues to get worse. Almost half of the illicit opioids sampled in B.C. now have benzos in them. More than 100,000 of us depend on this street drug supply - including Martin Steward and Laura Shaver.

After withstanding so many other crises, now Martin and Laura need to survive benzodope – a scary new challenge confronting their decade-strong relationship and their work as drug user activists.

But what do we do now that so many of us are wired to benzos? How much longer can we wait for safe supply?

Transcript

A full transcript is available here.

Call to Action and Political Demands

Prohibition has made the drug supply unregulated, unpredictable and potentially lethal. Drug users need a safe supply - that is, access to a safer pharmaceutical version of their drug of choice; coke, meth, heroin, fentanyl, whatever. A safe supply could end the overdose crisis overnight.

Police must stand down and stop enforcing prohibition. Enforcement makes illicit drugs stronger and more contaminated. Drug war policing is what brought us benzo-dope.
Doctors must start prescribing benzodiazepines and opioids in combination to substitute for the illicit and potentially-lethal street benzo-dope.

OPSs should be expanded & funded to accommodate the longer duration of benzo-dope overdoses.

Safe supply, substitution treatment and withdrawal management services must be made available to people who are wired to benzo-dope.

OPS workers — especially peers — should have unionized jobs with benefits.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 31 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

The outsized role of peers at overdose prevention sites in responding to the poison drug crisis.

Ruptures and changes within the illicit drug supply.

Romantic relationships and structural vulnerability.

Public health outcomes of the benzodope crisis on people who use drugs.

Works Cited

News stories/journal articles:

Crawford, Robyn. “Vancouver Overdose Prevention Society blames new drug for 16 overdoses in 2 days.” Global News. July 7, 2019.
Daflos, Penny. “B.C. paramedics understaffed by up to 40 per cent daily due to burnout, injuries, vacancies.” CTV News, November 10, 2021.
Harris, Magdalena, Kirsten Forseth, Tim Rhodes. "'It's Russian roulette': Adulteration, adverse effects and drug use transitions during the 2010/2011 United Kingdom heroin shortage." International Journal of Drug Policy, Volume 26, Issue 1, (2015): 51-58. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2014.09.009.
Hennig, Clare. “Spike in overdoses reportedly due to opioid-sedative mix that acts like’ date rape drug.’” CBC News. July 8, 2019.
Howard, Paul et al. "Benzodiazepines." Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, Volume 47, Issue 5 (2014): 955-964.
Jones, Jermaine D et al. “Polydrug abuse: a review of opioid and benzodiazepine combination use.” Drug and alcohol dependence vol. 125,1-2 (2012): 8-18. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2012.07.004
Laing, Matthew K et al., “An outbreak of novel psychoactive substance benzodiazepines in the unregulated drug supply: Preliminary results from a community drug checking program using point-of-care and confirmatory methods.” International Journal of Drug Policy. no 93 3:103169 (Feb 2021): 1-4, 10.1016/j.drugpo.2021.103169.
Melnychuk, Mark. "New Varieties of Drugs Fuel Surge in OD Deaths; Fentanyl Containing Benzodiazepine Less Responsive to Narcan Antidote." Leader Post, Oct 27, 2021.
Ti, Lianping and Samuel Tobias, “‘Benzo-dope’ may be replacing fentanyl: Dangerous substance turning up in unregulated opioids.” The Conversation. August 11, 2021.
Vescera, Zak. “B.C. harm-reduction sites, doctors struggling with new type of overdose: Benzodiazepines don’t respond to emergency treatments such as naloxone.“ Vancouver Sun, July 9, 2019.

Reports:

Kielty, Collin. “February 2022 Monthly Report.” Vancouver Island Drug Checking Project. March 22, 2022, https://substance.uvic.ca/blog/february-2022-monthly-report/.
BC Centre for Substance Use Drug Checking Report February 2022 which found 37.9% of opioids tested positive for benzos in Feb 2022. The report states that the true number may be higher because of limits on drug testing technology.
Illicit Drug Toxicity Deaths in BC January 1, 2012 – January 31, 2022 states the number of illicit drug toxicity deaths in January 2022 equates to about 6.7 deaths per day.
Illicit Drug Toxicity Type of Drug Data: Data to February 28, 2022 BC Coroners service report links benzos to 43% of last year’s deaths.

Additional Reading

Betsos, Alex, Jenna Valleriani, Jade Boyd, Geoff Bardwell, Thomas Kerr and Ryan McNeil. “‘I couldn't live with killing one of my friends or anybody’: A rapid ethnographic study of drug sellers’ use of drug checking.” International Journal of Drug Policy Volume 87, (2021): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102845.
Bardwell, Geoff, Jade Boyd, Jaime Arredondo, Ryan McNeil and Thomas Kerr. “Trusting the source: The potential role of drug dealers in reducing drug-related harms via drug checking.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence, Volume 198, (2019): 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2019.01.035.
Ivsins, Andrew, Jade Boyd, Leo Beletsky, Ryan McNeil. "Tackling the overdose crisis: The role of safe supply." International Journal of Drug Policy, Volume 80, 102769, (2020): https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugpo.2020.102769.
McNeil, Ryan, PhD., Taylor Fleming M.P.H., Samara Mayer M.P.H., Allison Barker B.M.A., Manal Mansoor B.A., Alex Betsos M.A., Tamar Austin M.A., Sylvia Parusel PhD., Andrew Ivsins PhD., and Jade Boyd PhD. "Implementation of Safe Supply Alternatives during Intersecting COVID-19 and Overdose Health Emergencies in British Columbia, Canada, 2021." American Journal of Public Health 112, 04, (2022): S151-S158: http://dx.doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2021.306692.
Zawilska, Jolanta and Jakub Wojcieszak. “An expanding world of New Psychoactive Substances – Designer benzodiazepines.” NeuroToxicology. 73 (2). (2019). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuro.2019.02.015.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories.

If you like what we do, please consider donating to the show on Patreon.

Special thanks to Sara Blyth and Trey Helton for allowing us to record at OPS. If you’d like to provide them with a donation you can do so on their website here.

Thanks as well to Hugh Lampkin for helping us remember the details from Martin’s benzo overdose.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex de Boer, Jade Boyd, Lisa Hale and Garth Mullins.

Our academic director is Ryan McNeil.
Thanks also to Martin Steward and Laura Shaver for reviewing drafts so we could get this right.

Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Original score was written and performed by James Ash.

Academic advising and direction for this episode was provided by Professor Jade Boyd.

Additional research by Alex Betsos.

Thanks to Brenda Longfellow and Darkfield Radio for additional project management and production support.

Crackdown is funded in part by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Additional funding for this episode was provided by the Canadian Media Fund.

Crackdown Podcast . 2022-03-15 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-03-15

Episode 30: DULF

In spite of a massive spike in overdose death, BC’s government still refuses to offer a genuinely safe supply of drugs. Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum tell the story of how the Drug User Liberation Front has stepped up to do what the policy makers refuse to do themselves: offer people a safe version of the drugs they already use.

*Eris Nyx, co-founder of the Drug User Liberation Front, leads a march for a safe supply down Hastings Street on April 14, 2021. (Photo: Alexander Kim)*

Then, Crackdown’s science advisor, Professor Ryan McNeil talks about his recently published work on BC’s “risk mitigation guidelines.” Why has this program failed to curb overdose deaths and what needs to be done to improve it?

Works Cited

Bohdan Nosyk. Towards a comprehensive performance measurement system for opioid use disorder in British Columbia: VCH Presentation [PowerPoint slides]. Health Economic Research Unit at the Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcome Sciences and Simon Fraser University.
Ed Day, Julie Ison, and John Strang, “Inpatient Versus Other Settings for Detoxification for Opioid Dependence,” Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2 (2005).
Jake R. Morgan et al., “Comparison of Rates of Overdose and Hospitalization After Initiation of Medication for Opioid Use Disorder in the Inpatient vs Outpatient Setting,” JAMA Network Open 3:12 (2020).
Jason Luty, “What Works in Drug Addiction?” Adv Psychiatr Treat 9 (2003): 280–288.
Jeong E. Min et al., “Estimates of Opioid Use Disorder Prevalence from a Regression-Based Multi-Sample Stratified Capture-Recapture Analysis,” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 217 (2020).
John Strang et al., “Loss of Tolerance and Overdose Mortality after Inpatient Opiate Detoxification: Follow Up Study,” BMJ 326:7396 (2003): 959–960.
Ryan McNeil et al., “Implementation of Safe Supply Alternatives During Intersecting COVID-19 and Overdose Health Emergencies in British Columbia, Canada, 2021,” American Journal of Public Health, March 9, 2022, 1-8.
The Canadian Press, “B.C. Cabinet Ministers in Line to Keep 10% Portion of Pay Usually Withheld in Deficit Years,” CBC, Feb 24 2022.

Dr. Unger’s Email

In this episode we quote an email sent by Dr. David Unger, the Deputy Registrar of BC’s College of Physicians and Surgeons, expressing opposition to the province’s then proposed risk mitigation guideline program. Here is that email in its entirety:

Credits

Crackdown is produced on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories.

If you like what we do, please consider donating to the show on Patreon.

Special thanks to Professors Bohdan Nosyk and Bernie Paulie for their help.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Rainbow, Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex De Boer, Danya Fast, Ryan McNeil, Lisa Hale and Garth Mullins.

Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Original score was written and performed by James Ash, Sam Fenn, and Garth Mullins.

Crackdown is funded in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Research Council of Canada.

Crackdown Podcast . 2022-02-15 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-02-15

Episode 29: Resign

The Chief Coroner says 2,224 people died of toxic drug overdose in BC in 2021. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson and Minister of Health Adrian Dix must resign.

Image: A microphone and two boxes of tested and labeled heroin distributed by the Drug User Liberation Front rest on a mixing board. (Photo: Garth Mullins)

The Chief Coroner says 2,224 people died of toxic drug overdose in BC in 2021. How many months of fatal OD statistics have we seen since 2016? Fifty? Sixty? How many health and addictions ministers have passed through our lives as those numbers got bigger, only to move on after a few years? Enough.

Politicians must face the music after another year of record-breaking overdose deaths. Since there’s no change, there must be consequences. Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson and Minister of Health Adrian Dix must resign.

Transcript

A complete transcript of this episode is in preparation and will be published here when ready.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 29 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Poor implementation of “safe supply” policies
Civil disobedience by organized drug users
Co-optation of activist demands by government

Policy Recommendations

All levels of government must immediately fund programs for safe and accessible supplies of all drugs, including cocaine, heroin, and crystal meth, by directly listening to user groups and people who use drugs, and covering these drugs under Provincial Health Insurance by adding them to the formularies, or allow us to create routes of access ourselves.
All levels of government must immediately develop an accessible legal framework that decriminalizes, licenses, funds, and provides facility spaces for heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine compassion clubs.
All government commissions on drug policy, safe supply, and decriminalization must include meaningful representation from drug user groups. Nothing about us without us.

Press Releases

BC Association of People on Opiate Maintenance (BCAPOM), the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU): BCAPOM and DULF Release 2021 Overdose Stats and Distribute a Safe Supply of Drugs (February 8, 2022)
BC Coroners Service: More than 2,200 British Columbians lost to illicit drugs in 2021 (February 9, 2022)
BC Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions: Minister’s, PHO statement on lives lost to poisoned drugs in 2021 (February 9, 2022)
BCAPOM and DULF: Drug user activists commemorate 2021 overdose deaths by distributing a safer supply of heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine (February 9, 2022)
BCAPOM and DULF: Press Conference on 2021 Coroner’s Report [Video] (February 9, 2022)

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

If you like what we do, please consider donating to the show on Patreon.

Special thanks to Alex Betsos for help with research.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex de Boer, Ryan McNeil, Lisa Hale, and Garth Mullins.

Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Original score was written and performed by Garth Mullins, James Ash, Sam Fenn, and Kai Paulson.

We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.

Crackdown Podcast . 2022-01-12 Crackdown Podcast . 2022-01-12

Episode 28: After the Flood

2021 was a year of very ominous weather reports. What would it be like to try to build a life through the chaos? This is Rainbow’s story.

Image: A cargo barge washed ashore at Sunset Beach in Vancouver. Photo by Rainbow.

2021 was a year of very ominous weather reports. There were unprecedented heat emergencies, wildfires, and Biblical floods. Meanwhile COVID-19, income inequality, and the overdose crisis continued to become more and more grim.

What would it feel like to endure all of this as a young person? What would it be like to try to build a life through the chaos?

To find out, we asked Rainbow, a young woman in her 20s, to record big and small moments from her life for 40 days.

This is Rainbow’s story.

Transcript

A full transcript is available here.

Policy Recommendations

We oppose approaches to preventing drug-related harms that are premised on abstinence.
Young people’s engagement with harm reduction programs and sites should be kept confidential.
We demand investment in low-barrier and youth-led harm reduction programs and spaces, including safer consumption sites.
Youth-oriented programs and spaces must account for the needs of polysubstance-using youth, BIPOC youth, gender diverse and queer youth, and self-identified young women.
Stop pathologizing young people who use drugs (YPWUD) and trying to “save” or “fix” us.
The services and systems that YPWUD traverse must be re-designed to foster youth’s self-determination in relation to their drug use, harm reduction, care, and families.
We add our voices to those demanding the decriminalization of drug use and an end to the war on drugs.
We add our voices to those demanding a safe supply of drugs via peer-led compassion clubs.
Youth voices should be better integrated into both bottom up, grassroots and top down, state-sponsored harm reduction movements.
YPWUD in the context of greater privilege and allies should focus energy on fostering and extending the activism of YPWUD in the context of street involvement.

—Adapted from Canêdo et al. (2022). Harm reduction calls to action from young people who use drugs on the streets of Vancouver and Lisbon. Harm Reduction Journal 19:43.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 28 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Navigating systems of care as a young person in Canada
Supportive housing
Romantic relationships and structural vulnerability
Stimulant use and productivity
Safe supply prescribing

Works Cited

CBC News. “2021 now deadliest year for illicit-drug overdoses in B.C.” CBC News. December 9, 2021.
CBC News. “B.C. Bracing for Increase in COVID Hospitalizations Amid 5th Wave.” December 29, 2021.
Fast, Danya. “Going Nowhere: Ambivalence about Drug Treatment during an Overdose Public Health Emergency in Vancouver.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 35, no. 2 (2018): 209-225.
Fast, Danya. “‘We Don’t Belong There’: New Geographies of Homelessness, Addiction, and Social Control in Vancouver’s Inner City.” City and Society 30, no. 2 (2018): 237-262.
Fast, Danya, Thomas Kerr, Evan Wood, and Will Small. “The Multiple Truths about Crystal Meth among Young People Entrenched in an Urban Drug Scene: A Longitudinal Ethnographic Investigation.” Social Science and Medicine 110 (2014): 41-48.
McNeil, Ryan, Taylor Fleming, et al. “Navigating Post-Eviction Drug Use Amidst a Changing Drug Supply: A Spatially-Oriented Qualitative Study of Overlapping Housing and Overdose Crises in Vancouver, Canada. Drug and Alcohol Dependence.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence (2021).
Nosyk, Bohdan et al. “Evaluation of Risk Mitigation Measures for People with Substance Use Disorders to Address the Dual Public Health Crises of COVID-19 and Overdose in British Columbia: a Mixed-Method Study Protocol.” BMJ Open (2021): 1-15.
Stacey, Jocelyn. “The Year the Climate Emergency Came to British Columbia.” December 13, 2021.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territories.

If you like what we do, please consider donating to the show on Patreon.

Special thanks to Lee and Reith Charlesworth.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Rainbow, Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex De Boer, Danya Fast, Ryan McNeil, Lisa Hale and Garth Mullins.

Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Original score was written and performed by James Ash, Sam Fenn, and Garth Mullins.

We produced this episode in Partnership with Professor Danya Fast. It was funded in part by Frayme and the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Crackdown Podcast . 2021-09-29 Crackdown Podcast . 2021-09-29

Episode 27: Cop Baked In

Can Crackdown’s editorial board member Reija Jean use Suboxone to kick dope? Who will win the battle for her opioid receptors?

Suboxone has a “cop baked in;” it produces very little euphoria and can stop you from getting high on other opioids. Some doctors and policy makers say this enables people to pursue a more meaningful life, but drug user activists worry this kind of war on euphoria will only lead to more overdose deaths.

Can Crackdown’s editorial board member Reija Jean use Suboxone to kick dope? Who will win the battle for her opioid receptors?

Editorial Statement on the Criticism of Suboxone

“Beans” by Reija Jean. Note: Beans is healthy and happy. Don’t worry about Beans.

The phrase “cop baked in” was coined by Garth in a 2017 BCAPOM meeting.

Transcript

A complete transcript for this episode is available here.

Interviewees

Policy Recommendations

Nothing about us without us - drug users should be given power over the design and implementation of the pharmaceutical policies that dominate their lives. We are the experts and we deserve a real seat at the table.
Drug users should have a real choice - not limited by the moral or political concerns of their physicians: Suboxone, Methadone, Dilaudid, prescription heroin, safe supply fentanyl, whatever.
End the war on euphoria.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 27 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Patient experiences with Suboxone (buprenorphine/naloxone) treatment
Complexities and stigmatization within the patient-prescriber relationship
“The war on euphoria”

Works Cited

Alan Cowan, Braude MC, Harris LS, May EL, Smith JP, Villarreal JE. “Evaluation in nonhuman primates: Evaluation of the physical dependence capacities of oripavine-thebaine partial agonists in patas monkeys,” in Narcotic Antagonists (1974): 427–438, Raven Press, New York.
British Columbia Centre on Substance Use and B.C. Ministry of Health. “A Guideline for the Clinical Management of Opioid Use Disorder,” (2017).
B.C. Coroners Service. “Illicit Drug Toxicity Report: Fentanyl-Detected Suspected Illicit Drug Toxicity Deaths, 2012-2021” (2021).
Danya Fast, “Going Nowhere: Ambivalence about Drug Treatment during an Overdose Public Health Emergency in Vancouver,” Medical Anthropology Quarterly 35:2 (2021): 211.
David Moore. “Erasing pleasure from public discourse on illicit drugs: On the creation and reproduction of an absence,” International Journal of Drug Policy 19 (2008): 353–358.
Helena Hansen, Caroline Parker and Jules Netherland. “Race as a Ghost Variable in (White) Opioid Research,” Science Technology and Human Values 45:5 (2020): 848-876.
John Lewis. “Nathan B Eddy Award Lecture: In Pursuit of the Holy Grail,” Proceedings of the 60th Annual Scientific Meeting of The College of Problems of Drug Dependence, Inc. (1998): 7-13.
Marteau D, McDonald R, Patel K. “The relative risk of fatal poisoning by methadone or buprenorphine within the wider population of England and Wales.” BMJ Open 5:5 (2015):e007629.
Megan Kurz, Jeong Eun Min, Laura Dale, Bohdan Nosyk. “Assessing the determinants of completing OAT induction and long term retention: A population-based study in British Columbia, Canada” Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction Issues of Substance Conference (2021): F6.3.
Nancy Campbell and Anne Lovell. “The history of the development of buprenorphine as an addiction therapeutic,” Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1248 (2012): 124-139.
Valerie Giang, Thulien M, McNeil R, Sedgemore K, Anderson H, Fast D. “Opioid agonist therapy trajectories among street entrenched youth in the context of a public health crisis.” SSM Popul Health. 11 (2020):100609.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex de Boer, Danya Fast, Ryan McNeil, and Garth Mullins.

Original score was written and performed by Garth Mullins, James Ash, Sam Fenn, and Kai Paulson.

Crackdown Podcast . 2021-07-15 Crackdown Podcast . 2021-07-15

Episode 26: Artificial Energy

On episode 26 of Crackdown, we look at how crystal meth helps people keep up with an unrelenting world.

Image: Blurry night-time photo of a dumpster in a Vancouver alley. (Photo: Garth Mullins)

On last month’s show, we looked at the history of the Brain Disease Model of Addiction. That’s the idea that drug users have a chronic, relapsing brain disease. The reward system in our brain is wired wrong and that’s why we want to get high.

On today’s show: a different theory. Academics call it the “social adaptation” model of addiction. This is the idea that people take drugs because they are useful. There’s something about the world that makes drug use more appealing, rational, or necessary.

This is true for lots of drugs. But on episode 26 of Crackdown, we look at how crystal meth helps people keep up with an unrelenting world.

Transcript

A complete transcript of this episode is in preparation and will be published here when ready.

On “Indian Residential Schools”

Garth: This month Crackdown’s Editorial Board is thinking of all the Indigenous children who were snatched up by the RCMP and forced to live in residential schools. These were really prison camps run by religious fundamentalists, contracted by the Canadian state. Many of these children never came home. Many were buried in unmarked graves, over a thousand of which have been found recently on the sites of former residential schools. There will be more.

I think about my niece and nephews. Their Mooshum was abducted to a residential school in Manitoba. He was a red road, east van legend. Residential school trauma transmits down the generations like electricity. This is no “dark chapter of Canadian history,” like politicians say. It’s the whole fucking book, right up to the present page. And there’s a direct line from residential schools to the over-representation of Indigenous people in coroners’ overdose death stats.

There’s a 24 hour residential school crisis line at 1-866-925-4419.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 26 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

The social adaptation model of addiction
Stimulant use and productivity
Informal work and income generating strategies

Credits

Crackdown is made on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.

Thanks this month to JJ Rigsby at VANDU and Trey Helten for walking us through this topic. Thanks as well to Sean Dope.

Additional thanks to Brianne de Man of the Binner’s Project, as well as Richard Henry and Ken Lyotier of United We Can.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alex de Boer, Danya Fast, Ryan McNeil, and Garth Mullins. Sound design by Alexander Kim.

Original score was written and performed by Garth Mullins, James Ash, Sam Fenn, and Kai Paulson.

Crackdown Podcast . 2021-06-03 Crackdown Podcast . 2021-06-03

Episode 25: The Lab

Garth interviews Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor Nancy Campbell, about the so-called “Brain Disease Model of Addiction”. How did this idea rise in prominence and what does it misunderstand about the reasons why many people use drugs?

Image: In a laboratory at the Addiction Research Center in Lexington, Kentucky, a researcher in a white lab coat prepares a participant for an experiment. The participant is seated and the researcher stands over him. The laboratory is crowded with scientific machines. (Photo: Bill Eppridge/LIFE Magazine)

While overdoses in BC are climbing to unprecedented rates, some doctors still refuse to provide drug users with access to pharmaceutical versions of illicit drugs. Instead, many doctors view addiction as a chronic disease to be treated by limiting euphoria, prescribing “safer” analogues, or surveilling their patients.

On episode 25, Garth interviews Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Professor, Nancy Campbell, about the so-called “Brain Disease Model of Addiction” (BDMA). How did this idea rise in prominence and what does it misunderstand about the reasons why many people use drugs?

Transcript

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 25 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

History of the development of the brain disease model of addiction
Ethics of research on incarcerated people

Works Cited

Campbell, Nancy. 2007. Discovering Addiction: The Science and Politics of Substance Abuse Research. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
———. 2008. The Narcotic Farm: The Rise and Fall of America’s First Prison for Drug Addicts. New York: Abrams.
Fast, Danya. 2021. “Going Nowhere: Ambivalence about Drug Treatment during an Overdose Public Health Emergency in Vancouver.” Medical Anthropology Quarterly.
Fast, Danya, and David Cunningham. 2018. “‘We Don’t Belong There’: New Geographies of Homelessness, Addiction, and Social Control in Vancouver’s Inner City.” City & Society 30 (2): 237–62.
Harlow, Harry. 1959. “Mother Love.” Carousel Film & Video, CBS Television Network.
Olsen, J.P., and Luke Walden. 2008. “The Narcotic Farm.” ITVS.
Preminger, Otto. 1955. “The Man with the Golden Arm.” United Artists.
Rasmussen, Nicolas. 2010. “Maurice Seevers, the Stimulants and the Political Economy of Addiction in American Biomedicine.” BioSocieties 5 (1): 105–23..
Tatum, A. L., and M. H. Seevers. 1931. “Theories of Drug Addiction.” Physiological Reviews 11 (2): 107–21.

In Memoriam

On this week’s show, we remember our friend and comrade Hawkfeather Peterson’s son Edward Biggs, who died suddenly this month. Hawkfeather says, “He was only 22 years old. He hadn’t even begun to live life.” Rest in peace Edward.

Janis Warren was a harm reduction worker and the lead singer of the band Lashback. She died of a fatal overdose in May. Rest in peace Janis.

Gerrald Peachey–who most of us knew as Spike–was a drug user and a force within the movement. In 2018, he ran for city council with the campaign slogan “Put a Spike Through City Hall.” Rest in Peace Spike.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Thanks this week to Nancy Campbell and Steve Pierce for their help locating and digitizing the archival footage you heard on this month’s show. Thanks, as well, to Steve for recording our conversation with Professor Campbell.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Lisa Hale, Alexander Kim, Danya Fast, Ryan McNeil, and Garth Mullins.

Original score was written and performed by James Ash, Sam Fenn, Kai Paulson and Garth Mullins.

Crackdown Podcast . 2021-04-29 Crackdown Podcast . 2021-04-29

Episode 24: If It Wasn’t Drugs It Would Be Something Else

Garth talks with the best-selling writer and activist Desmond Cole about how police use Canada’s drug war as a pretext for violence against Black communities. Garth and Desmond also discuss the relationship between the movement to decriminalize drugs and the movement to defund and abolish the police.

Image: Desmond Cole sits on a bench in a community garden in Toronto. (Photo: Allie Graham)

Transcript

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 24 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Racialized police violence in Canada
Racist origins of the war on drugs

Calls To Action

Support Malton People’s Movement against police brutality, Defund 604 Network in Vancouver, and Black Lives Matter Canada.

Works Cited

Benson Bruce L., David W. Rasmussen and David L. Sollars. 1995. Police Bureaucracies, Their Incentives, and the War on Drugs. Public Choice 83 (1/2): 21-45.
Chunn, Dorothy and Gavigan. 2004. “Welfare Law, Welfare Fraud, and the Moral Regulation of the ‘Never Deserving’ Poor.” Social & Legal Studies 13 (2).
Cole, Desmond. The Skin We’re In: A Year of Black Resistance and Power. Toronto, Canada: Doubleday Canada, 2020.
Gaetz. 2010. “The Struggle to End Homelessness in Canada: How We Created the Crisis, and How We Can End It.” Open Health Services and Policy Journal 3: 21-6.
O’Grady, Gaetz and Buccieri. 2013. “Tickets… and More Tickets: A Case Study of the Enforcement of the Ontario Safe Streets Act.” Canadian Public Policy 39 (4): 541-558

Credits

Crackdown is produced on Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh territory.

You can donate to Crackdown at patreon.com/crackdownpod.

Follow Crackdown and Garth Mullins on Twitter to get updates about the show.

Crackdown’s editorial board is Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean, Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

Today’s episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Lisa Hale, Alex Kim, Ryan McNeil, and Garth Mullins.

Original score for today’s episode was written and performed by James Ash, Sam Fenn, Kai Paulson and Garth Mullins.

Crackdown Podcast . 2021-04-02 Crackdown Podcast . 2021-04-02

Episode 23: Cop Free Future

After 113 years, things might be changing in Vancouver as the city looks to decriminalize the simple possession of drugs. In episode 23, Crackdown takes a look at the birth of the drug war in Canada.

Image: Downtown Eastside alley scene. The site of Canada’s first recorded drug arrest. Colourful graffiti decorates the walls and dumpsters. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

After 113 years, things might be changing in Vancouver. Mayor Kennedy Stewart has written to the federal government, asking for an exemption from Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. If he gets it, the city could decriminalize the simple possession of drugs.

In light of this announcement, Crackdown is taking a look at the birth of the drug war in Canada. When and why did it start? And what is it going to take to finally end it?

Interviewees

Lani Russwurm
Frank Crichlow
Meenakshi Manoe
Tonye Aganaba

Transcript

A full transcript is available here.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 23 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Racist origins of the war on drugs in Canada
Racist discrimination and racialized violence by police in the war on drugs
Abolition of police

Works Cited

Albert Zugsmith (Director). (1962). Confessions of an Opium Eater. Photoplay Productions.
Beletsky, L., & Davis, C. S. (2017). Today’s fentanyl crisis: Prohibition’s Iron Law, revisited. International Journal of Drug Policy, 46, 156–159.
Brought Girls to Opium Den: White Degenerate Fled in Night Clothes From Hotel When Police Were About to Arrest Him. (1908, September 30). The Daily World.
Doezema, J. (1999). Loose women or lost women? The re-emergence of the myth of white slavery in contemporary discourses of trafficking in women. Gender Issues, 18(1), 23–50.
Eli Gorn and Todd Serotiuk (Director). (n.d.). Scared Straight. In The Beat . Galafilm Productions.
First Prosecution Under Opium Act: Mephistopheles Chau Committed for Trial for Selling Opium by Retail – White Women Were Witnesses. (1908, October 1). The Daily Province.
For Selling Opium: First Conviction in Vancouver – Chan Shan Gets Twelve Months in Jail. (1908, October 20). The British Colonist.
Hayle, S., Wortley, S., & Tanner, J. (2016). Race, Street Life, and Policing: Implications for Racial Profiling. Canadian Journal of Criminology and Criminal Justice, 58(3), 322–353.
Khenti, A. (2014). The Canadian war on drugs: Structural violence and unequal treatment of Black Canadians. International Journal of Drug Policy, 25(2), 190–195.
Laite, J. (2017). Traffickers and Pimps in the Era of White Slavery. Past and Present , 237(1), 237–269.
MacKay, R. (2018). The Beginning of Drug Prohibition in Canada: What’s Past Is Prologue. Queen’s Quarterly, 125(4).
Mackenzie King, W. L. (1908). Report by W.L. Mackenzie King, C.M.G., deputy minister of labour, on the need for the suppression of the opium traffic in Canada. S.E. Dawson.
Marcoux, J., & Nicholson, K. (n.d.). Deadly Force: Fatal encounters with police in Canada: 2000-2017. CBC News.
Michael Scott and Marrin Canell (Director). (1975). Whistling Smith. https://www.nfb.ca/film/whistling_smith/
Murphy, E. (1922). The Black Candle. Thomas Allen.
Musto, D. F. (1991). Opium, Cocaine and Marijuana in American History. Sci Am, 265(1), 40–47.
Price, J. (2007). “Orienting” The Empire: Mackenzie King and the Aftermath of the 1907 Race Riots. BC Studies , 156/157, 53–81.
Secrets of a Chinese Den. (1908, August 27). The Daily World .
St. Denis, J. (2021, January 13). Downtown Eastside Grieves Man Shot Dead by Police. The Tyee.
van der Meulen, E., Chu, S. K. H., & Butler-McPhee, J. (2021). “That‘s why people don’t call 911”: Ending routine police attendance at drug overdoses. International Journal of Drug Policy, 88, 103039.
Vancouver police get sonic crowd control device. (2009, November 10). CBC News.
Vancouver Police Unveil New Armoured Vehicle, But DON’T Call it a Tank. (2010, September 7). The Vancouver Sun.
Wynne, R. E. (1966). American Labor Leaders and the Vancouver Anti-Oriental Riot. The Pacific Northwest Quarterly, 57(4), 172–179.
Year’s Hard Labor for Chinese Keeper. (1908, October 19). The Daily World.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Thanks to everyone involved in People With Lived Experience of Drug Use National Working Group of the Canadian Research Initiative in Substance Misuse or CRISM. This includes Frank Critchlow, Michael Nurse, Jade Boyd, Alex Betsos and Karen Turner.

Thank you to Tonye Aganaba for allowing us to use their songs “Make this House a Home” and “CC”.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, Laura Shaver, Reija Jean. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

This episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Lisa Hale, Alex Kim, Ryan McNeil, and Garth Mullins.

Original score was written and performed by James Ash, Sam Fenn, Kai Paulson and Garth Mullins.

Crackdown Podcast . 2021-02-04 Crackdown Podcast . 2021-02-04

Episode 22: We’re Not Afraid of Needles Around Here

Image: *Crackdown* Editorial Board member Dean Wilson receives a vaccine for COVID-19. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

In the midst of a pandemic and overdose crisis, members of Crackdown’s Editorial Board are relieved to be getting the COVID vaccine. But we don’t just trust the government, so we’re doing our homework. For years, drug users have looked at medical and public health interventions critically, assessing things for ourselves. Drug users are particularly vulnerable to COVID and its new variants. We need to get that vaccine in our arms now. But there is so much disinformation floating around.

On episode 22, Dr. Kimberly Sue, Medical Director of the Harm Reduction Coalition, answers our questions about COVID19 and the politics of vaccination.

Transcript

A complete transcript for this episode is in preparation and will be published here when ready.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 20 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Vaccine hesitancy among marginalized people

Crackdown Podcast . 2020-12-29 Crackdown Podcast . 2020-12-29

Episode 21: Control

Activist Kali Sedgemore and anthropologist Danya Fast tell a story about the government’s desire for control—the way its attempts to detain and manage drug users often backfire.

Image: Patty and Joe’s room at “Anthony House”. A small TV wrapped in plastic sits on a desk by the window. In the window there is a poster of a tropical beach scene. There is also a futon with emerald-green bedding and a stainless steel sink in the room. The walls are plain, painted neutral colours. (Photo: Patty)

Activist Kali Sedgemore and anthropologist Danya Fast tell a story about the government’s desire for control—the way its attempts to detain and manage drug users often backfire.

BC’s Premier, John Horgan, has recently reiterated his support for the controversial Bill 22. Under the proposed bill, doctors could involuntarily detain people under the age of 19 at hospitals for up to seven days after an overdose—even if their parents or guardians don’t agree. In some circumstances, hospitals could even use physical restraints to keep young people from leaving.

Bill 22 is an example of the way that the desire to protect drug users—in particular young drug users—often becomes a desire to control them. Supportive housing can feel like prison. Hospitals can be dangerous and racist places, particularly for Indigenous people. And harm reduction programs can feel cold and institutional. And when programs become too controlling, they repel—and even threaten—the very people they’re meant to help.

Garth interviews Kali Sedgemore in a parking garage. (Photo: Sam Fenn)

VANDU, Crackdown, the BC’s Chief Coroner, the Representative for Children and Youth, the BC Civil Liberties Association, the Pivot Legal Society, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, and the Union of BC Indian Chiefs have all spoken out against Bill 22. At a press conference, Kukpi7 Judy Wilson of UBCIC noted the government’s history of forcibly removing Indigenous kids from their families and putting them in residential schools.

“So we see the bill as really concerning,” Wilson said. “We don’t need to be going to call out for help and then worry if we’re going to be detained.”

“That’s not going to work for us.”

Transcript

A complete transcript of this episode is available here.

Works Cited and Further Reading

BC Housing. 2013. “Project Report: Single Room Occupancy Renewal Initiative.” https://www.infrastructurebc.com/files-4/documents/PBC_SRO.pdf.
Canadian Institute for Health Information. 2016. “Hospitalizations and Emergency Department Visits Due to Opioid Poisoning in Canada.” Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse. https://secure.cihi.ca/free_products/Opioid%20Poisoning%20Report%20%20EN.pdf.
CBC Radio. 2020a. “BC Children‘s Hospital Chief Medical Officer Supports the Province’s Legislation That Would Allow Hospitals to Hold Youth after an Overdose.” The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn . https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1758272579652.
CBC Radio. 2020b. “Bill 22 Opposition.” The Early Edition with Stephen Quinn . https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-91-the-early-edition/clip/15789166-july-27-2020-bill-22-opposition?subscribe=true.
Dembicki, Geoff. 2009. “Fears of APEC-Style Clash in 2010.” The Tyee, February 16, 2009. https://thetyee.ca/News/2009/02/16/APECGames/.
Fast, Danya. 2014. “Mapping Senses of Place in an Urban Drug Scene.” Medical Anthropology Theory 1 (1). https://doi.org/10.17157/mat.1.1.209.
Fast, Danya. 2016. “‘My Friends Look Just like You:’ Research Encounters and Imaginaries in Vancouver’s Urban Drug Scene.” Medical Anthropology Theory 3 (2). https://doi.org/10.17157/mat.3.2.343.
Fast, Danya. 2017. “Dream Homes and Dead Ends in the City: A Photo Essay Experiment.” Sociol Health Illn 39 (7): 1134–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9566.12563.
Fast Danya. 2019 “Evidence-Based Intervention and the Protection of Life in a Broken Promiseland.” Seminar. 5th Cascadia Medical Anthropology Seminar. Vancouver, Canada. November 20. http://www.cascadiaseminar.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/Cascadia-Medical-Anthropology-Seminar-2019-Abstracts.November-14-2019.pdf
Fast, Danya. “Living in the Best Place On Earth.” Accessed December 28, 2020. https://www.livinginthebestplace.org/.
Fast, Danya, Jean Shoveller, Will Small, and Thomas Kerr. 2013. “Did Somebody Say Community? Young People’s Critiques of Conventional Community Narratives in the Context of a Local Drug Scene.” Human Organization 72 (2): 98–110. https://doi.org/10.17730/humo.72.2.86005462778382u2.
Giang, Valerie, Madison Thulien, Ryan McNeil, Kali Sedgemore, Haleigh Anderson, and Danya Fast. 2020. “Opioid Agonist Therapy Trajectories among Street Entrenched Youth in the Context of a Public Health Crisis.” SSM – Population Health 11: 100609. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssmph.2020.100609.
Goodman, Ashley, Kim Fleming, Nicole Markwick, Tracey Morrison, Louise Lagimodiere, and Thomas Kerr. 2017. “‘They Treated Me like Crap and I Know It Was Because I Was Native’: The Healthcare Experiences of Aboriginal Peoples Living in Vancouver’s Inner City.” Social Science & Medicine 178: 87–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2017.01.053.
Hahn, Judith A., Kimberly Page‐Shafer, Paula J. Lum, Philippe Bourgois, Ellen Stein, Jennifer L. Evans, Michael P. Busch, Leslie H. Tobler, Bruce Phelps, and Andrew R. Moss. 2002. “Hepatitis C Virus Seroconversion among Young Injection Drug Users: Relationships and Risks.” J INFECT DIS 186 (11): 1558–64. https://doi.org/10.1086/345554.
Harnett, Cindy. 2020. “Premier Wants Law Allowing Detaining of Youth Who Overdosed.” Times Colonist, December 22, 2020. https://www.timescolonist.com/premier-wants-law-allowing-detaining-of-youth-who-overdosed-1.24258747.
Krüsi, Andrea, Danya Fast, Will Small, Evan Wood, and Thomas Kerr. 2010. “Social and Structural Barriers to Housing among Street-Involved Youth Who Use Illicit Drugs.” Health and Social Care. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2524.2009.00901.x.
Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. 2020. Bill 22 – 2020: Mental Health Amendment Act, 2020. https://www.leg.bc.ca/parliamentary-business/legislation-debates-proceedings/41st-parliament/5th-session/bills/first-reading/gov22-1.
Miller, Cari L., Patricia M. Spittal, James C. Frankish, Kathy Li, Martin T. Schechter, and Evan Wood. 2005. “HIV and Hepatitis C Outbreaks Among High-Risk Youth in Vancouver Demands a Public Health Response.” Can J Public Health 96 (2): 107–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf03403671.
Pedersen, Wendy, and Jean Swanson. 2010. “Pushed Out: Escalating Rents in the Downtown Eastside.” Carnegie Community Action Project. http://www.carnegieaction.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/ccap2010hotelreportweb.pdf.
The OGI-UBC Research Team. 2009. “Olympic Games Impact (OGI) Study for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games: Pre-Games Results Report.” The University of British Columbia. https://open.library.ubc.ca/cIRcle/collections/facultyresearchandpublications/52383/items/1.0132646.
Turpel-Lafond, Mary Ellen. 2020. “In Plain Sight: Addressing Indigenous-Specific Racism and Discrimination in B.C. Health Care.” November 2020. https://engage.gov.bc.ca/addressingracism/.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.

You can find a complete transcript for today’s show, as well as photographs and links to further readings, at patreon.com/crackdownpod. While there, consider giving us a few bucks. It helps a lot.

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, and Laura Shaver.

Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

Today’s episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by Sam Fenn, Alexander Kim, Alex de Boer, Danya Fast, Ryan McNeil, and Garth Mullins.

Danya Fast’s research is supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Vancouver Foundation, The Sick Kids Foundation, and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.

Original score written and performed by Garth Mullins, Sam Fenn, and James Ash.

Our credits music was “Pinkjet Pussy” by Randy and the Pandoras. You can buy this song on 100 Block Rock, a compilation of music produced by Downtown Eastside artists.

Crackdown Podcast . 2020-10-05 Crackdown Podcast . 2020-10-05

Episode 20: Cut Off

In 2015, Crackdown editorial board member, Jeff Louden, was on morphine pills for his chronic pain. When Jeff's doctor unexpectedly cut down his medication, he turned to the street to outrun dopesickness.

Jeff Louden gives the middle finger at an editorial board meeting. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

In 2015, Crackdown editorial board member, Jeff Louden, was on morphine pills for his chronic pain. The medication allowed Jeff to find some stability and avoid Vancouver's increasingly dangerous drug market. But, when Jeff's doctor unexpectedly cut down his medication, he turned to the street to outrun dopesickness.

Five years later, Garth Mullins investigates what happened to Jeff. What can it tell us about North America's so-called "overprescribing crisis?"

Transcript

A free transcript of this episode is available here.

Guests

Jeff Louden is a member of Crackdown's editorial board and is from the Curve Lake First Nation.
Laura Shaver is a member of Crackdown's editorial board and is the President of the BC Association of People on Methadone.
Christy Sutherland is a family doctor, the medical director at the Portland Hotel Society, and the Physician Lead at the BC Centre on Substance Use [BCCSU].
Helena Hansen is a doctor and Professor and Chair of Translational Social Science and Health Equity at UCLA.
Bryan Quinby is the host of the podcast Street Fight. You can follow Bryan on Twitter here.
Stefan Kertesz is a physician and a Professor in preventative medicine at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. You can follow Dr. Kertesz on Twitter and listen to his podcast, On Becoming a Healer here.
Dawn Rae Downton is a writer and journalist. You can read her National Post article, "My Year on Death Row," here.

Learning Outcomes

Crackdown episodes are frequently used as educational tools by teachers and community organizers. Please let us know if your class or group listens to our work!

Episode 20 is especially useful for exploring the following themes:

Critical account of the so-called “overprescribing crisis” in North America
Marketing of new medications to doctors by pharmaceutical companies
Race and the development/marketing of medications
Consequences of mass deprescribing trends

Works Cited

Bohnert, Amy S. B. 2011. “Association Between Opioid Prescribing Patterns and Opioid Overdose-Related Deaths.” JAMA 305 (13). https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.2011.370.
Case, Anne, and Angus Deaton. 2015. “Rising Morbidity and Mortality in Midlife among White Non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st Century.” Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112 (49). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1518393112.
College of Physicians and Surgeons of British Columbia. n.d. “Practice Standard: Safe Prescribing of Opioids and Sedatives.” Accessed October 5, 2020. https://www.cpsbc.ca/files/pdf/PSG-Safe-Prescribing.pdf.
Dowell, Deborah, Tamara M. Haegerich, and Roger Chou. 2016. “CDC Guideline for Prescribing Opioids for Chronic Pain — United States, 2016.” MMWR Recomm. Rep. 65 (1). https://doi.org/10.15585/mmwr.rr6501e1er.
Downton, Dawn Rae. 2018. “My Year on Death Row: Inside Canada’s ‘Other Opioid Epidemic,’” August 23, 2018. https://nationalpost.com/feature/my-year-on-death-row.
Dunn, Kate M. 2010. “Opioid Prescriptions for Chronic Pain and Overdose.” Ann Intern Med 152 (2). https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-152-2-201001190-00006.
Executive Office of the President of the United States. 2011. “Epidemic: Responding to America’s Prescription Drug Abuse Crisis.” National Criminal Justice Reference Center. https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ondcp/rx_abuse_plan.pdf.
Fischer, Benedikt, Wayne Jones, Mark Tyndall, and Paul Kurdyak. 2020. “Correlations between Opioid Mortality Increases Related to Illicit/Synthetic Opioids and Reductions of Medical Opioid Dispensing - Exploratory Analyses from Canada.” BMC Public Health 20 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-020-8205-z.
Garloch, Karen. 2017. “‘Dr. Feelgood: Dealer or Healer?’ Tells Story of Doctor Who Now Lives in Charlotte.” The Charlotte Observer, January 1, 2017. https://www.charlotteobserver.com/living/health-family/karen-garloch/article124076879.html.
Glauser, Wendy. 2013. “Pharma Influence Widespread at Medical Schools: Study.” Canadian Medical Association Journal 185 (13). https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.109-4563.
Hansen, Helena, and Julie Netherland. 2016. “Is the Prescription Opioid Epidemic a White Problem?” Am J Public Health 106 (12). https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2016.303483.
James, Jocelyn R., JoAnna M. Scott, Jared W. Klein, Sara Jackson, Christy McKinney, Matthew Novack, Lisa Chew, and Joseph O. Merrill. 2019. “Mortality After Discontinuation of Primary Care–Based Chronic Opioid Therapy for Pain: A Retrospective Cohort Study.” J GEN INTERN MED 34 (12). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11606-019-05301-2.
Jick, Hershel. 1970. “Comprehensive Drug Surveillance.” JAMA 213 (9). https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1970.03170350023005.
Joseph, Andrew, and Shraddha Chakradhar. 2020. ““Faced with Fears of OxyContin Misuse, Sales Reps Touted Its Safety.” STAT News , January 9, 2020. https://www.statnews.com/2020/01/09/prescriber-fears-oxycontin-misuse-purdue-pharma-sales-reps-misleadingly-played-up-safety/.
Kaplovitch, Eric, Tara Gomes, Ximena Camacho, Irfan A. Dhalla, Muhammad M. Mamdani, and David N. Juurlink. 2015. “Sex Differences in Dose Escalation and Overdose Death during Chronic Opioid Therapy: A Population-Based Cohort Study.” PLoS ONE 10 (8). https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0134550.
Kertesz, Stefan G., Ajay Manhapra, and Adam J. Gordon. 2020. “Nonconsensual Dose Reduction Mandates Are Not Justified Clinically or Ethically: An Analysis.” J Law Med Ethics 48 (2). https://doi.org/10.1177/1073110520935337.
Los Angeles Times. 2016. “OxyContin Press Release, 1996,” May 5, 2016. https://documents.latimes.com/oxycontin-press-release-1996/.
Lupick, Travis. 2018. “Downtown Eastside’s Dr. Christy Sutherland Named One of Canada’s Top Family Physicians of 2018.” The Georgia Straight, October 22, 2018. https://www.straight.com/life/1154481/downtown-eastsides-dr-christy-sutherland-named-one-canadas-top-family-physicians-2018.
Mark, Tami L., and William Parish. 2019. “Opioid Medication Discontinuation and Risk of Adverse Opioid-Related Health Care Events.” Journal of Substance Abuse Treatment 103. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsat.2019.05.001.
Markon, Jerry. 2007. “Pain Doctor Is Guilty of Drug Trafficking.” Washington Post, April 28, 2007. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/27/AR2007042702204.html.
Merrill, Richard A. 1999. “Modernizing The FDA: An Incremental Revolution.” Health Affairs 18 (2). https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.18.2.96.
Michael G. Michael G. DeGroote National Pain Centre. 2010. “Canadian Guideline For Opioid Use For Pain.” National Opioid Use Guideline Group . April 30, 2010. http://nationalpaincentre.mcmaster.ca/opioid_2010/.
National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. 2018. “2018 Annual Surveillance Report of Drug-Related Risks and Outcomes.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Netherland, Julie, and Helena Hansen. 2017. “White Opioids: Pharmaceutical Race and the War on Drugs That Wasn’t.” BioSocieties 12 (2). https://doi.org/10.1057/biosoc.2015.46.
Oliva, Elizabeth M, Thomas Bowe, Ajay Manhapra, Stefan Kertesz, Jennifer M Hah, Patricia Henderson, Amy Robinson, Meenah Paik, Friedhelm Sandbrink, and Adam J Gordon. 2020. “Associations between Stopping Prescriptions for Opioids, Length of Opioid Treatment, and Overdose or Suicide Deaths in US Veterans: Observational Evaluation.” BMJ. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m283.
Perry, Samuel, and George Heidrich. 1982. “Management of Pain during Debridement: A Survey of U.S. Burn Units.” Pain 13 (3). https://doi.org/10.1016/0304-3959(82)90016-1.
“Purdue Pharma LP v Kentucky (2007).” n.d. Accessed October 5, 2020. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6595442-PurdueKentuckyCallNotes.html.
Richert, Lucas. 2009. “Pills, Policy Making and Perceptions: Inside the FDA During The.” Canadian Review of American Studies 39 (1). https://doi.org/10.1353/crv.0.0031.
“State of Tennessee v Purdue Pharma, L.P.” 2018. Tennessee State Government. May 15, 2018. https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/foi/purdue/purduecomplaint-5-15-2018.pdf.
Sun, Eric, and Jena Anupam. 2017. “Distribution of Prescription Opioid Use Among Privately Insured Adults Without Cancer: United States, 2001 to 2013.” Ann Intern Med 167 (9). https://doi.org/10.7326/m17-1408.
Tierney, John. 2007. “Trafficker or Healer? And Who’s the Victim?” The New York Times, March 27, 2007. https://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/27/science/27tier.html?ex=1177560000&en=5b5b33d313ff8f11&ei=5070.
“Timeline of Selected FDA Activities and Significant Events Addressing Opioid Misuse and Abuse.” n.d. U.S. Food And Drug Administration. Accessed October 5, 2020. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-drug-class/timeline-selected-fda-activities-and-significant-events-addressing-opioid-misuse-and-abuse.
Tompkins, D. Andrew, J. Greg Hobelmann, and Peggy Compton. 2017. “Providing Chronic Pain Management in the ‘Fifth Vital Sign’ Era: Historical and Treatment Perspectives on a Modern-Day Medical Dilemma.” Drug and Alcohol Dependence 173: S11–21. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2016.12.002.
United States General Accounting Office. 2003. “OxyContin Abuse and Diversion and Efforts to Address the Problem.” December 2003. https://www.gao.gov/assets/250/240884.pdf.
“U.S. Opioid Prescribing Rate Maps.” n.d. Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Accessed October 5, 2020. https://www.cdc.gov/drugoverdose/maps/rxrate-maps.html.
2010. “The New Face of Heroin Addiction.” ABC News . http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/face-heroin-addiction-12009941.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.

Special thanks this month to: Maria Higginbotham, Owen Williamson, Maria Hudspith and Buck Doyle. Thanks also to Dr. Stefan Kertesz who has been answering annoying questions from our team for months now. Dr. Kertesz has asked us to let you know that he “represents his own views and not those of any of his employers.”

Our editorial board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, and Laura Shaver. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

Today's episode was conceptualized, written, and produced by, Alex de Boer, Alex Kim, Lisa Hale, Ryan McNeil, Sam Fenn, and Garth Mullins.

Original score for today's episode was written and performed by Garth Mullins, Sam Fenn, and James Ash.

Crackdown Podcast . 2020-08-31 Crackdown Podcast . 2020-08-31

Episode 19: Losing Hope

On today’s show Garth interviews Tim Slaney. Tim is a harm reduction worker at the supervised consumption site in Lethbridge, Alberta – one of the busiest in the world. And the government is shutting it down.

Image: Supervised injection room at ARCHES in Lethbridge, Alberta. (Photo: Tim Slaney)

August 31, 2020.

Today is International Overdose Awareness Day, but so what? Who needs to be made aware? Who among us can’t see the corpses piling up from this endless war?

And just when you think things can’t get much bleaker, they do.

Transcript

A complete transcript for this episode is in preparation and will be published here when ready.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

This month we lost a good friend, warrior and activist - Wade Crawford - from Six Nations. RiP Wade

Our Editorial Board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, and Laura Shaver. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin

Crackdown’s senior producer is Sam Fenn. Our producers are Lisa Hale and Alexander Kim.

Our science advisor is Ryan McNeil. Assistant Professor & Director of Harm Reduction Research at the Yale School of Medicine.

Garth Mullins is our host, writer and executive producer. You can follow him on twitter @garthmullins.

Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, James Ash and Garth. Our theme song was written by me and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer.

Music from the ARCHES Mic Club featured in this episode:

We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.

Crackdown Podcast . 2020-07-16 Crackdown Podcast . 2020-07-16

Episode 18: Blue Metal Fence

In March, People vanished. The city looked like a ghost town. But on the Downtown Eastside, the sidewalks were still packed. People still lining up for food. And lining up to get into supervised injection sites. Vancouver’s biggest tent city--Oppenheimer Park-- had never been so full.

Image: Oppenheimer Park, empty and surrounded by blue metal fence. (Photo: Alexander Kim)

The first thing that the plague brought to Vancouver was exile.

Transcript

A full transcript of this episode is available here.

Links

The Homeless Idea podcast https://thehomelessidea.ca/

The Right to Remain research project http://www.righttoremain.ca/

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

This month we lost a good friend, warrior and activist - Wade Crawford - from Six Nations. RiP Wade

Thank you to the Red Braid Alliance for Stewart Squat audio. Thank you to Global News Vancouver and CTV News Vancouver for newscast audio.

Our Editorial Board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, Laura Shaver. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

Crackdown’s senior producer is Sam Fenn. Our producers are Lisa Hale and Alexander Kim.

Our science advisor is Ryan McNeil. Assistant Professor & Director of Harm Reduction Research at the Yale School of Medicine.

Garth Mullins is our host, writer and executive producer. You can follow him on twitter @garthmullins.

Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, James Ash and Garth. Our theme song was written by me and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer.

We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.

Crackdown Podcast . 2020-06-12 Crackdown Podcast . 2020-06-12

Episode 17: Class Action

People on methadone in B.C. are suing the government and a pharmaceutical company for decisions which may have contributed to the overdose crisis. Laura Shaver is the lead plaintiff in a new proposed class action lawsuit against British Columbia’s College of Pharmacists, the Ministry of Health, and the pharmaceutical corporation Mallinckrodt. She’s seeking damages for harms related to the switch from compound methadone to Methadose in 2014.

People on methadone in B.C. are suing the government and a pharmaceutical company for decisions which may have contributed to the overdose crisis. Laura Shaver is the lead plaintiff in a new proposed class action lawsuit against British Columbia’s College of Pharmacists, the Ministry of Health, and the pharmaceutical corporation Mallinckrodt. Laura - who is also on Crackdown’s editorial board - may wind up representing all of the province’s methadone users. She’s seeking damages for harms related to the switch from compound methadone to Methadose in 2014.

The Notice of Civil Claim was filed on June 1st by Vancouver-based attorney, Jason Gratl. It says that Mallinckrodt, the College, and the Ministry knew, or ought to have known, that the switch was dangerous. The Notice claims these defendants were “downplaying or denying the risks of switching from Compounded Methadone to Methadose.”

The Notice echoes the work of Vancouver’s drug user activists--including Garth Mullins and Laura Shaver--who have maintained for years that Methadose is significantly inferior to the old compound methadone. If the civil claim goes to trial, it will be the first time these allegations are tested in court.

On episode 17 of Crackdown, Garth talks to Laura and Jason about the pending case.

Mallinckrodt did not respond to our requests for comment in time for broadcast. The BC College of Pharmacists and the Ministry of Health both declined to comment due to the civil suit.

Transcript

You can find a transcript for today’s episode here. Crackdown believes that transparency is a cornerstone of journalism. For that reason, we have made our transcripts as detailed as possible, with footnotes sourcing how and where we have found our information. We also highlight the sections of our episodes that contain analysis, opinion or advocacy.

Vancouver’s Most Deadly Month

Our update on Methadose comes just as the Vancouver Coroner’s Office has released some very grim statistics. According to a report by BC’s Coroners Service, the province saw 170 suspected illicit drug toxicity deaths in May. That is the highest monthly total ever. These people were friends and family, colleagues and comrades.

References:

Disclosures

Garth and Laura are both members of the B.C. Association of People on Methadone and have actively campaigned against the switch to Methadose for years.

Jason Gratl has represented both Garth and Laura in previous cases.

Abolition, justice & anti-racism resources

There have been mass arrests across the U.S. and protesters are sitting in jail right now. Community bail funds get people out and prevent them from languishing in pre-trial detention. The cash bail system disproportionately affects BIPOC and low-income communities, and community bail funds are fighting to end the practice entirely. You can contribute here: https://www.communityjusticeexchange.org/nbfn-directory

Breonna Taylor was killed by Louisville police, who broke into her apartment on a “no-knock warrant” in March. Cate Young (@battymamzelle) put together this list of actions you can take for justice for Breonna https://msha.ke/30flirtyfilm/

Regis Korchinski-Paquet died on May 27 after Toronto police came to her family’s apartment. https://www.gofundme.com/f/justice-for-regis

George Floyd memorial fund: https://ca.gofundme.com/f/georgefloyd

Chantel Moore, a Tla-o-qui-aht woman, was killed by RCMP in New Brunswick on June 4th during a “wellness check.” You can support her family here: https://ca.gofundme.com/f/support-for-family-of-chantel-moore

Readings

Policing Black Lives: State Violence in Canada from Slavery to the Present by Robyn Maynard
https://robynmaynard.com/policing-black-lives/
The Skin We’re In: a Year of Black Resistance & Power by Desmond Cole https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/536075/the-skin-were-in-by-desmond-cole/9780385686341
Anti-Racist Resource Guide by Victoria Alexander: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1a-lzdtxOlWuzYNGqwlYwxMWADtZ6vJGCpKhtJHHrS54/edit
It’s Long Past Time to Talk About Policing of Black Women in Canada by Robyn Maynard
https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/2020/05/29/its-long-past-time-to-talk-about-policing-of-black-women-in-canada.html
Resources for a future without police https://www.mpd150.com/resources/
VANDU: As VPD budget spirals out of control, defunding police is our community alternative to drug war
https://www.straight.com/news/1332066/nathan-crompton-vpd-budget-spirals-out-control-defunding-police-our-community
We must defund the police: it is the only option by Sandy Hudson https://www.macleans.ca/society/life/we-must-defund-the-police-it-is-the-only-option/?utm_medium=organic&utm_source=Twitter#Echobox=1591316503

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Our Editorial Board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fess, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, and Laura Shaver. Rest in Peace Dave Murray and Chereece Keewatin.

Crackdown’s senior producer is Sam Fenn. Our producers are Lisa Hale and Alexander Kim. Our science advisor is Ryan McNeil, Assistant Professor & Director of Harm Reduction Research at the Yale School of Medicine.

Today’s episode was fact-checked by Polly Leger.

Garth Mullins is Crackdown’s host, writer and executive producer. You can follow Garth on twitter @garthmullins.

Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, James Ash and Garth Mullins. Our theme song was written by Garth and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer.

Crackdown is produced with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and our Patreon supporters.

Crackdown Podcast . 2020-05-19 Crackdown Podcast . 2020-05-19

Episode 16: Goodbye Dave

Dave Murray was a veteran drug user activist. He was a mentor to the next generation of organizers, including Garth. He’s pretty much the reason why there is a prescription heroin program in Vancouver today. And he was our friend.

We were working on an episode about the housing crisis during the pandemic. But a couple weeks ago, Crackdown lost another member of our editorial board: Dave Murray.

We can’t all get together to mourn him right now, to remember him and tell stories. Like we did with Chereece last year. We’ll get to it eventually, when the quarantine lifts, but until then, we’ll do it here.

Dave was an intellectual – with taped up glasses and newspaper tucked under his arm. But he was also bold as hell.

He helped us launch this podcast. In fact, Dave was there before we even had a name. He was a soft-spoken guy, and he made sure Crackdown got off on the right foot.

Dave used heroin for decades. He was part of these two prescription heroin trials in Vancouver: NAOMI was the The North American Opiate Medication Initiative. And SALOME was the Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness.

The prescription heroin was great – but when the studies were done, people were back to grinding for dope on the street.

So Dave organized with other participants of those studies – he was part of a legal challenge to force the government to let them keep getting prescribed heroin after the studies were over.

Dave broke a path that will – one day – mean anyone wired to down can get a prescription for heroin.

More recently, Dave was sick. He was also heartbroken to lose his brother Les to overdose in late 2018.

Garth spoke with Dean Wilson – of our editorial board, and Ann Livingston. Both close friends of Dave.

Safe journey home, Dave. Take care, buddy.

Transcript

A complete transcript for this episode is available here.

Links

You can read obituaries by Travis Lupick and also by Guy Felicella, Dean Wilson and Matt Bonn.

Ann Livingston has created a Facebook page with lots of Dave’s speeches.

You can read research co-authored by Dave here.

Thanks to Gordon Katic and Travis Lupick for tape of Dave gathered in 2017 for a documentary called The Heroin Clinic.

Credits

Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Our Editorial Board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, and Laura Shaver.

Rest in Peace Chereece Keewatin.

Rest in Peace Dave Murray. Good-bye Dave.

You can support us at Patreon.com/crackdownpod. Special thank you to our Patreon supporters – new ones and those who’ve been with us from the start. That helps keep us going.

Crackdown’s senior producer is Sam Fenn. Our producers are Alexander Kim and Lisa Hale.

Our science advisor is Ryan McNeil. Assistant Professor & Director of Harm Reduction Research at the Yale School of Medicine.

Garth Mullins is host, writer and executive producer. You can follow him on twitter @garthmullins.

Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, James Ash and Garth Mullins. Our theme song was written by Garth and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer. You also heard a bit of one of Dave’s favourite songs: Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic.

We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.

Transcript:

Call to Action & Political Demands:

Learning Outcomes:

Works Cited & Suggested Reading:

Credits:

Transcript

Further Reading

Rest in Peace

Credits

Transcript

Call to Action & Political Demands

Learning Outcomes

Works Cited

Additional Suggested Reading

Credits

Credits

Transcript

Call to Action and Political Demands

Learning Outcomes

Works Cited

News stories/journal articles:

Reports:

Additional Reading

Credits

Works Cited

Dr. Unger’s Email

Credits

Transcript

Learning Outcomes

Policy Recommendations

Press Releases

Credits

Transcript

Policy Recommendations

Learning Outcomes

Suggested Additional Readings

Works Cited

Credits

Transcript

Interviewees

Policy Recommendations

Learning Outcomes

Suggested Reading

Works Cited

Credits

Transcript

On “Indian Residential Schools”

Learning Outcomes

Further Reading

Credits

Transcript

Learning Outcomes

Works Cited

In Memoriam

Credits

Transcript

Learning Outcomes

Calls To Action

Further Reading and Listening

Works Cited

Credits

Interviewees

Transcript

Learning Outcomes

Further Reading

Works Cited

Credits

Transcript

Learning Outcomes

Transcript

Works Cited and Further Reading

Credits

Transcript

Guests

Learning Outcomes

Works Cited

Credits

Transcript

Credits

Transcript