This work is inspired by an interview given in 2002 by Dean Wilson; possibly Canada’s most outspoken advocate for drug users and former president of VANDU (Vancouver Area Network Of Drug Users). Wilson, alongside many activists, fought for North America’s first legal safe injection site, Insite.
For better or worse, licit & illicit use of drugs is part of our world. We as a band neither encourage the use of drugs, nor demonize it. We should work to minimize its harmful effects rather than ignore or condemn them. The war on drugs is in fact a war on people and it’s no coincidence that the poorest communities are affected the most.
Harm Reduction is not just a set of particular strategies and ideas aimed at reducing negative consequences associated with drug use. It’s also a movement for social justice, built on a belief in respect for the rights of people who use drugs.
Drug users should themselves be the primary agents of reducing the harm and we should work to empower them; to share information, support them in strategies which meet their actual needs. Our work should refer to care, treatment & therapy. It’s health care, it’s social justice. Drug users should
have access to all of them if they choose to.
Recorded in September 2020 by Andi, Hamburg.
Mixed & Mastered in Janaury 2021 by Fabi @ Sunsetter Studio, Bremen.
www.sunsetterstudio.com
released January 28, 2021