Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users

The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users or VANDU is a not-for-profit organization[1] and advocacy group based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The group believes that all drug users should have their own rights and freedoms. The group's members have been actively involved in lobbying for support of Insite, North America's first safe injection site, located in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver.[2]

"VANDU" redirects here. For the Estonian village, see Vandu.
Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU)
Founded1997
Legal statusNon-profit organization
FocusDrug users rights, Drug policy reform, Drug policy, Human rights, Harm reduction.
Area served
Downtown Eastside, Vancouver, Canada
Key people
Garth Mullins
Websitewww.vandu.org

Its board of directors consists entirely of current and former drug addicts.[3] It was co-founded by Ann Livingston and Bud Osborn.[1] Livingston had previously established a short-lived injection site called "Back Alley" on Powell Street in 1995.[4]

Background

VANDU was created in September 1997, to advocate for the delivery of health care services to drug users living in Vancouver who had been exposed to increasing rates of hepatitis C and HIV as a result of sharing needles,[1] and to address risks to their health, such as drug overdose.[2] It has operated an unauthorized drug consumption site and provided assisted illegal drug use for about four years until it was shut down in 2014.[5]

A few dozen people first met in Oppenheimer Park on 9 September 1997 in response to messages posted by Livingston on utility poles throughout the Downtown Eastside.[4] The assembled group of people decided to form an organization, and adopted the name Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users a year later.[4] One of the attendees was Donald MacPherson, who later became drug-policy coordinator for Vancouver municipal government, and who also established the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition.[4]

Membership grew to about 100 individuals in a few months, and eventually to over 2,000.[6]: 10  The organization's membership is open to all individuals, but those elected to the board of directors must be current or former addicts, and votes at the organization's meetings may only be cast by current or former addicts.[6]

Actions and services

Amongst the services offered by VANDU is a managed alcohol program.[7] The organization also engages in local issues pertaining to Downtown Eastside area residents.[8]

VANDU defends harm reduction services and supervised injection facilities.[9] In recent years, VANDU has been engaging with the Drug Users Liberation Front (DULF)[10] to provide "safe supply" services.[11]

References
  1. "Vancouver drug users' group VANDU has led prevention policy". Maclean's. The Canadian Press. 16 July 2017. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  2. Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (2009). "VANDU". Retrieved 2009-04-02.
  3. Bishop, Greg (2010-02-05). "In the Shadow of the Olympics (Published 2010)". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2021-02-12.
  4. Lupick, Travis (4 September 2017). "The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users looks back on 20 years fighting for human rights". The Georgia Straight. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  5. Kerr, Thomas; Mitra, Sanjana; Kennedy, Mary Clare; McNeil, Ryan (2017-05-18). "Supervised injection facilities in Canada: past, present, and future". Harm Reduction Journal. 14 (1): 28. doi:10.1186/s12954-017-0154-1. ISSN 1477-7517. PMC 5437687. PMID 28521829.
  6. Harati, Donna (2015). "Inside Insite: How a Localized Social Movement Led the Way for North America's First Legal Supervised Injection Site". Harvard Law School. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  7. Shore, Randy (20 February 2018). "Radical harm reduction for illicit alcohol may save lives, studies find". Vancouver Sun. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  8. Himmelright, Breanna (2022-08-25). "Series of Downtown Eastside building fires alarm residents, advocates" – via CBC. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. Reynolds, Christopher (2021-08-22). "O'Toole would allow safe injection sites, but stops short of decriminalization". CTVNews. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  10. "Drug user compassion groups in B.C. see success in safe supply distribution". Pique Newsmagazine. Retrieved 2022-09-01.
  11. McDonough, David (2022-06-22). "Rethinking Canada's misguided ideological approach to the opioid epidemic: Jeremy Eckert Devine for Inside Policy". Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Retrieved 2022-09-01.

Further reading
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