Activists press for safer hard drugs in unusual legal challenge

Two Canadians activists who illegally sold untainted hard drugs in an effort to reduce fatal overdoses have launched a legal challenge to federal drug laws.

Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx, co-founders of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), were charged in June with drug trafficking-related offences by police in Vancouver.

They had made headlines two years ago for offering pure cocaine, meth and heroin to drug users, saying they wanted to prevent deaths from a supply tainted with other substances.

The court challenge argues current drug laws infringe on the right to life and liberty of users by denying them access to a safer supply and discriminate based on disability, in this case severe addiction.

In their announcement, the pair said they sold the illicit drugs to provide “regulated alternatives to street drugs" in British Columbia (BC), where more than 11,000 people have died from overdose since 2019.

The fatal overdoses are largely driven by contaminated illicit drugs that have been laced with fentanyl and other harmful substances, and are part of a larger trend of overdose deaths observed across North America.

Mr Kalicum and Mr Nyx argue Canada has failed to protect drug users by denying them access to “a regulated, predictable supply of substances”.

The club was a "sensible, rational and urgently needed response in a full spectrum of care" needed to address the overdose crisis, Mr Kalicum said at a press conference on Tuesday.

The pair are asking for their drug trafficking charges to be dropped. They are also asking that a section of Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) prohibiting the sale of illegal drugs be declared unconstitutional.

They had applied for an exemption to the CDSA in the past in order to procure and sell tested drugs to users, but were denied after they acknowledged that they would have to source the drugs through the dark web.

The pair then challenged that decision, arguing that it leaves drug users vulnerable to harm, and by doing so it infringes on Canada’s charter of rights and freedoms.

The BBC has reached out to Health Canada for comment.

Tuesday’s announcement marks the pair's second attempt at challenging Canada’s drug laws, but it is the first legal action they have taken since they were formally charged with drug trafficking.

The legal challenge was filed before the provincial Supreme Court.

A lawyer for the pair said they will argue that DULF's programme reduced the risks of a toxic drug supply.

"We certainly do hope that when confronted with the law and the evidence, we will prevail," said Tim Dickson.

According to a peer-reviewed study on their programme, Mr Kalicum and Mr Nyx - who are co-authors on the study - began selling illicit drugs, which they say were paid for by public donations, in August 2022 as part of what they call a "compassion club" for people who use cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Over 14 months, they sold the labelled drugs at a fixed storefront space in the city. Users were able to purchase up to 14 grams per week, and the drugs were tested prior for any fatal contaminants.

The study argues that club members were less likely to suffer a fatal or non-fatal overdose, and that these results highlight the need for safer supply programmes to reduce overall deaths.

A year ago, under political pressure, the provincial government cut funding it said DULF was receiving for drug testing.

“It’s unfortunate because they were providing essential life-saving work. But they were also breaking the law, which we will not tolerate,” the provincial premier, David Eby, said at the time.

BC is trying its own safe supply programme where patients can be prescribed alternatives to opioids.

This approach has been controversial, however.

Critics argue the prescribed drugs are being sold illegally on the street, while some supporters of safe-supply programmes say BC's is flawed because it offers a limited, and sometimes ineffective, supply of drug alternatives to users with serious substance use issues.

BC has also tried decriminalising hard drugs in a bid to combat its fatal overdose crisis, but significantly limited the project earlier this year amid pushback from the public.