Stimulus Connect 3: Support. Don’t Punish

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June 26, 2020

International Day of Global Action for Support Don’t Punish – a global grassroots campaign centred on raising the awareness of harm reduction policies, public health, and human rights. This year, CSSDP partnered with Support. Don’t Punish, Stimulus Connect and Paradigma to facilitate two webinars on June 26, the Global Day of Action. Simultaneous interpretation was provided.

Our first webinar, “Youth Drug Policy, Then and Now” was a discussion of how youth drug policy landscapes have changed over time and key takeaways of our advancements. The panelists were Tara Lyons, Nazlee Maghsoudi, Kira London – Nadeau and it was moderated by Alex Betsos.

Following our first webinar, we held “Youth Talks Support Don’t Punish” in collaboration with Stimulus Connect. In collaboration with young people across the country, “Youth Talks Support Don’t Punish” centred the perspectives of those who are currently working to end the war on drugs in their respective communities and how they mobilize and strategize with other young people in solidarity with the movement. The panelists were Iye Sanneh, Grace Nie and Emily Wadden and it was moderated by Donald MacPherson.

Background

Stimulus Connect is a program of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC). CDPC partners with the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD), Association des intervenants en dépendance du Québec (AIDQ) and other members of their national planning committee.

Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy (CSSDP) is a grassroots network comprised of youth and students who are concerned about the negative impact drug policies have on individual and communities and advocates for appropriate, equitable responses to reduce and prevent harms.

New additions mentioned in the Stimulus Connect:

  1. RE: Bill 22, here are some key email addresses [email protected]; Minister Dix: [email protected]; Minister Darcy: [email protected]
  2.  CSSDP is a partner of the Regulation Project which is advocating for the legal regulation of all drugs
  3. Covid-19 and Harm Reduction resources: from CDPC https://drugpolicy.ca/covid-19-harm-reduction-resources/ and CSSDP https://cssdp.org/resources/
  4. Please watch this video on the intersection of race and gender disparities:

Resources

  1. Support Don’t Punish 
  2. Support Don’t Punish: Campaigning at the intersections of the COVID-19 crisis and the “war on drugs.” Bank of ideas for mobilisation
  3. Policing the Pandemic
  4. We Can’t Police Our Way Out of the Pandemic. Working to address alternatives to policing COVID-19 with a vision for the abolition of police.
  5. Putting human rights at the heart of Canada’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic
  6. Décès reliés à une intoxication suspectée aux opioïdes ou autres drogues au Québec juillet 2017 à mars 2020
  7. Opioid-related harms in Canada June 2020
  8. Drug Decriminalization Now.  A letter to Federal Ministers asking for decriminalization of simple drug possession. Please consider signing your organization on.
  9. British Columbia’s Bill 22 – 2020: Mental Health Amendment Act, 2020 which passed first reading on June 23, 2020