The following groups meeting regularly. Click on their names for more information.
- Education & Action Group
Tuesdays 2:00 PM at VANDU (380 E. Hastings) - British Columbia Association for People on Methadone (BC-A-POM)
Wednesdays 1:00 PM at VANDU (380 E. Hastings) - VANDU Board of Directors
Thursdays 11:00 AM at VANDU (380 E. Hastings)** - VANDU Board Development Meetings
Selected Weeks, Thursdays 4-7 PM - Volunteer Meetings HCC NEX
Fridays 11:00 AM at VANDU (380 E. Hastings) - Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS)
Fridays, 12:30 PM at VANDU (380 E. Hastings) - VANDU Women's Group
Saturdays, 10:00 AM at VANDU (380 E. Hastings) - VANDU Empowerment Employment Project website
- BC / Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors website
- Pedestrian Safety Project website
** Board Meetings are open to VANDU's membership, but only Board members can participate.
VANDU's Education & Action Group covers a wide range of topics including, but not limited to: determinants ot health; HIV and Hep C awareness; access to health services; harm reduction; local community issues; housing; disability; international drug user and policy issues; issues in law and public policy; and employment. Weekly sessions including participatory exercises, guest speakers, community events, and information dissemination.
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In 1999, a handful of methadone clients got together after realizing that there was a need for some sort of group to provide support and information for people on methadone. With the help of VANDU, a group started that would help methadone users, by providing the means and location to get together in order to support each other. The members could meet regularly and exchange information on all aspects of life as a methadone user, whether it be by exchanging personnel stories or by providing & researching information on users rights, medical and/or legal issues.
If you are now using methadone or considering it as an alternative to heroin, live in Vancouver, and would like more information on methadone use or just want to talk to others who know what you're going through, then come & check us out at one of our meetings every Wednesday afternoon at 2pm at 380 East Hastings St., Vancouver (VANDU office).
We can clarify myths and misinformation on methadone such as:
1. What is methadone?
Answer: Methadone is a synthetic opiate that is legal and long lasting. It is used in the treatment of heroin dependant people to help them stabilize their lives.
2. Is methadone more addictive than heroin?
Answer: Although withdrawing from methadone takes longer than heroin, methadone is not more addictive. Gradual withdrawal from methadone is virtually free of discomfort.
3. Does methadone rot your teeth & get into your bones?
Answer: Many heroin addicts do not take care of their teeth but find, when stabilized on methadone, they become aware of these things. The 'sore bones' is usually due to prolonged 'cold turkey'. Also one of the side effects of methadone, like many other medications, is that you may experience 'dry mouth'', this can make your teeth more prone to the production of plaque, which is a major cause of gum disease & tooth decay. Regular brushing & flossing can remedy this. As for 'sore bones' or 'bone rot' this is usually a symptom of too low a dose. 'Bone ache' which in turn feels like 'rot' is methadone withdrawal can be corrected by an adjustment of your daily methadone dose.
4. Is methadone dangerous?
Answer: Methadone when prescribed at a proper dose and monitored by a qualified doctor is very safe, however it can be very dangerous if used inappropriately. Do not give or take methadone if it is not prescribed to you, this can lead to overdose and even death.
Please read our constitution which can give you a better understanding of our goals.
BYLAWS
Part 1 - Interpretation
1. (1) In these bylaws, unless the context otherwise requires,
(a) "directors" means the directors of the society for the time being;
(b) "Society Act" means the society act of the Province of British Columbia from time to time in force and all amendments to it;
(c) "registered address" of a member means his address as recorded in the register of members.
(2) The definitions in the Society Act if the date these bylaws become effective apply to these bylaws.
2. Words importing the singular include the plural and vice versa; and words importing a male person include a female person and a corporation.
Part 2 - Membership
3. (1) There shall be two types of membership;
(a) A full member shall be a person who has formerly (past eighteen month) or is presently in methadone maintenance therapy and shall have both voice and vote at all meetings.
(b) A supporting member shall be a person who has not formerly and is not presently in methadone maintenance therapy and shall have voice but no vote at all meetings
4. A person may apply to the directors for membership in the society and on acceptance by The directors shall be a member.
5. Every member shall uphold the constitution and comply with these bylaws.
6. Membership dues if any, shall be determined by the membership from time to time.
7. A person shall cease to be a member of the society
(a) by delivering his resignation in writing to the secretary or by mailing or delivering it to the address of the society.
(b) or on his death or in case of a corporation on dissolution.
(c) on being expelled; or
(d) on having been a member not in good standing for 12 consecutive months.
8. (1) A member may be expelled by a special resolution of the members passed at a general meeting.
(2) It is the duty of the society to seek alternative solutions, proposing a special resolution for expulsion only as a final resort.
(3) The notice of special resolution for expulsion shall be delivered to the member at least 14 days prior to the general meeting, accompanied by full particulars stating the reason(s) for the proposed expulsion.
(4) The person who is the subject of the proposed resolution for expulsion shall be given an opportunity to be heard at the general meeting before the special resolution is put to vote.
9. All members are in good standing except a member who has failed to pay his current annual general membership fee or any other debt due and owing by him to the society and he is not in good standing so long as the debt remains unpaid.
Part 3 - Meetings of the Members
10. General meetings shall be held at the time and place, in accordance with the Society Act, that the directors decide.
11. Every general meeting other than an annual general meeting is an extraordinary general meeting.
12. Upon receipt of a written request from not less than 10% of the directors shall convene an extraordinary general meeting within 21 days of receiving such a request.
13. At least 14 days written notice of a general meeting shall be given to every member and in addition shall be publicly posted in all areas frequented by the members. The notice shall specify the place, day, and hour, as well as the reason for the meeting.
14. The first annual general meeting of the society shall be held not more than 15 months after the date of incorporation and after that an annual general meeting shall be held at least once in every calendar year and not more than 15 months after holding the last preceding annual general meeting.
15. The annual general meeting shall, as a minimum requirement, include the following points:
(a) Adoption of the rules of order;
(b) Approval of agenda;
(c) Consideration of the financial statements;
(d) Presentation of Directors report(s).
(e) Auditor report;
(f) The election of directors;
(g) The other business that, under these bylaws, ought to be transacted at an annual general meeting, or business which is brought under consideration by the report of the directors issued with the notice of convening meeting.
16. (1) No business, other than the election of a chairman and the adjournment or termination of the meeting shall be conducted at a general meeting at a time when a quorum is not present.
(2) If at any time during the general meting there ceases to be a quorum present, business then in progress shall be suspended until there is a quorum present or until the meeting is adjourned or terminated.
(3) A quorum is 3 members present or a greater number that the members may determine at a general meeting.
17. If within 30 minutes from the time appointed for a general meeting a quorum is not present, the meeting, if convened on the requisition of the members, shall be terminated, but in any other case, it shall stand adjourned to the same day in the next week, at the same time and place, and if at the adjourned meeting, a quorum is not present within 30 minutes from the time appointed for the meeting, the members present constitute a quorum, providing there is never less than 3 members present.
18. Subject to bylaw 19, the president, vice president, or in the absence of both, one of the other directors present, shall preside as chairman of a general meeting.
19. If at a general meeting
(a) There is no president, vice president or other director present within minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting; or
(b) The president and all other directors are unwilling to act as chairman, the members present shall choose one of their number to be chairman.
20. (1) A general meeting may be adjourned from time to time and from place to place. no business shall be transacted at an adjourned meeting other than the business left unfinished at the meeting from which the adjournment took place.
(2) In case of n equality of votes the chairman shall not have a casting or second vote in addition to the vote to which he may be entitled as a member and the resolution shall not pass.
21. (1) No resolution proposed at a meeting need be seconded and the chairman of a meeting may move or propose a resolution.
(2) When a meeting is adjourned for 10 days or more, notice of the adjourned meeting shall be given as in the case of the original meeting.
(3) Except as provided in this bylaw, it is not necessary to give notice of an adjournment or other business to be transacted at an adjourned meeting.
22. (1) A full member in good standing present at a meeting of members is entitled to one vote and a supporting member is entitled to voice but no vote.
(2) Voting is by a show of hands unless otherwise determined by the members present.
(3) Voting by proxy is not permitted.
23. A corporate supporting member, through its authorized representative is entitled to speak but not to vote, but in all other respects exercise the rights of a member, and that representative shall be reckoned as a supporting member for all purposes with respect to a meeting of the society.
Part 4 - Directors and Officers
24. (1) The directors may exercise all the powers and do all the acts and things that the society may exercise and do, and which are not by these bylaws or statutes or otherwise lawfully directed or required to be exercise or done by the society in general meeting, but subject, nevertheless, to (a) All laws affecting the society:
(b) these bylaws; and
(c) rules, not be inconsistent with these bylaws, which are made from time to time by the society in general meeting.
(2) No rule, made by the society in general meeting, invalidates a prior act of the directors that would have been valid if that rule had not been made.
25. (1) The president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and one or more other persons shall be directors of the society.
(2) The number of directors shall be 5 full members or a greater number determined from time to time at a general meeting.
(3) The members may direct that an advisory committee made up of supportive members be set up from tome to time and in a number to be determined in a general meeting.
26. (1) The directors shall retire from office at each annual general meeting when their successors shall be elected.
(2) Separate elections shall be held for each office to be filled.
(3) An election may be by acclimation, otherwise it shall be by ballot.
(4) If no successor is elected the person previously elected or appointed continues to hold office.
27. (1) The directors may at any time and from time to time appoint a member as a director to fill a vacancy in the directors.
(2) A director so appointed holds office only until the conclusion of the next following annual general meeting of the society, but is eligible for re-election at the meeting.
28. (1) If a director resigns his office or otherwise ceases to hold office, the remaining directors shall appoint a member to take the place of the former director.
(2) No act or proceeding of the directors os invalid only by reason of there being less than the prescribed numbers of directors in office.
29. The members may by special resolution remove a director before the expiration of his term of office, and may elect a successor to complete the term of office.
30. No director shall be remunerated for being or acting as a director but a director shall be reimbursed for all expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by him while engaged in the affairs of the society.
Part 5 - Proceedings of Directors
31. (1) The directors may meet together at the places they think fit to dispatch business, adjourn and otherwise regulate their meetings and proceedings, as they see fit.
(2) The directors may from time to time fix the quorum necessary to transact business, and unless so fixed the quorum shall be a majority of the directors then in office.
(3) The president shall be chairman of all meetings of the directors, but may appoint another director to chair a meeting with the consent of all other directors present, but if at a meeting the president is not present within 15 minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting the directors present may choose one of their number to be chairman at the meeting.
(4) A director may at any time, and the secretary, on the request of a director, shall, convene a meeting of the directors.
32 (1) The directors may delegate any, but not all, of their powers to committees consisting of the directors or directors as they think fit.
(2) A committee so formed in the exercise of the powers so delegated shall conform to any rules imposed on it by the directors, and shall report every act or thing done in exercise of those powers to the earliest meeting of the directors to be held after it has been done.
33. A committee shall elect a chairman of its meetings; but if no chairman is elected, or if at a meeting the chairman is not present within 30 minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting, the directors present who are members of the committee shall choose one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.
34. The members of a committee may meet and adjourn as they think proper.
35. For a first meeting of directors held immediately following the appointment or election of a director or directors at an annual general meeting of members, or for a meeting of the director at which a director is appointed to fill a vacancy in the directors, it is not necessary to give notice of the meeting to the newly elected or appointed director or directors for the meeting to be constituted, if a quorum of directors is present.
36. A director who may be absent temporarily from British Columbia may send or deliver to the address of the society a waiver of notice, which may be by letter, telegram, telex, or cable, of any meeting of the directors and may at any time withdraw the waiver, and until the waiver is withdrawn,
(a) No notice of meeting of directors shall be sent to that director, and
(b) any and all meetings of the directors of the society, notice of which has not been given to that director shall, if a quorum of the directors is present, be valid and effective.
37. (1) Questions arising at a meeting of the directors and committee of directors shall be decided by a majority of votes.
(2) In case of an equality of votes the chairman does not have second or casting vote.
38. No resolution proposed at a meeting of directors or committee of directors need be seconded and the chairman of a meeting may move or propose a resolution.
39. A resolution in writing, signed by all the directors and placed with the minutes of the directors is as valid and effective as if regularly passed at a meeting of directors.
Part 6 - Duties of Officers
40. (1) The president shall preside at all meeting of the society of the directors.
(2) The president is the chief executive officer of the society and shall supervise the other officers in the execution of their duties.
41. The vice-president shall carry out the duties of the president during his absence.
42 The secretary shall
(a) conduct the correspondence of the society;
(b) issue notices of all meetings of the society and directors;
(c) keep minutes of all meetings of the society and directors;
(d) have custody of all records and documents of the society except those required to be kept by the treasurer;
(e) have custody of the common seal of the society; and
(f) maintain the register of members.
43. The treasurer shall
(a) keep the financial records, including books of account, necessary to comply with the Society Act; and
(b) render financial statements to the directors, members and others when required.
44. (1) The offices of secretary and treasurer may be held by one person who shall be known as the secretary treasurer.
(2) When a secretary treasurer holds office the total number of directors shall not be less than 5 or the greater number that may have been determined pursuant to bylaw 25 (2).
45. In the absence of the secretary from a meeting, the directors shall appoint another person to act as secretary at the meeting.
Part 7 - Seal
46. The directors may provide a common seal for the society and may destroy a seal and substitute a new seal in its place.
47. The common seal shall be affixed only when authorized by a resolution of the directors and then only in the presence of the persons prescribed in the resolution, or if no persons are prescribed, in the presence of the president and secretary or president and secretary treasurer.
Part 8 - Borrowing
48. In order to carry out the purpose of the society the directors may, on behalf of and in name of the society, raise or secure the payment or repayment of money in the manner they decide, and in particular but without limiting the foregoing, by the issue of debentures
49. No debenture shall be issued without the sanction of a special resolution.
50. The members may by special resolution restrict the borrowing powers of the directors, but a restriction imposed expires at the next annual general meeting.
51. The first auditor shall be appointed by the directors who shall also fill all vacancies occurring in the office of auditor.
52. At each annual general meeting the society shall appoint an auditor to hold office until he is re-elected or his successor is elected at the next annual general meeting.
53. An auditor may be removed by ordinary resolution.
54. An auditor shall be promptly informed in writing of appointment or removal.
55. No director and no employee of the society shall be auditor.
56. The auditor may attend general meetings.
Part 10 - Notices to Members
57. A notice may be given to a member, either personally or by mail to him at his registered address.
58. In addition to the written notice, notices of all general meetings must be posted publicly in and in such a manner as to be reasonably seen by all members and in such areas as a majority of members may frequent.
59. A notice sent by mail shall be deemed to have been given on the second day following that on which the notice is posted, and in proving that notice has been given it is sufficient to prove the notice was properly addressed and put in a Canadian post office receptacle.
60 (1) Notice of a general meeting shall be given to
(a) the members shown on the register of members on the day notice is given, and
(b) The auditor.
(2) No other person is entitled to receive a notice of general meeting.
Part 11 - Bylaws
61. On being admitted to membership, each member is entitled to and the society shall give him, without charge, a copy of the constitution and bylaws of the society.
62. These bylaws shall not be altered or added to except by special resolution.
June, 2000
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VANDU Board of Directors
As a membership-driven organization, VANDU's elected Board of Directors meets weekly to discuss matters relevant to the organization and the community. Board meetings are limited in participation to Board members only, but general membership and members of the community at large may attend and observe.
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VANDU Board Development Meetings
Details regarding VANDU's Board Development Meetings will be updated periodically.
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Volunteer Meetings
At VANDU, we provide volunteer work opportunities in the form of coffee shifts at the VANDU office, needle exchange shifts at the Health Contact Centre, and special projects. Shifts are assigned weekly on Fridays.
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Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society (WAHRS)
WAHRS is a group that first started in 2002 as a subgroup of VANDU. The idea was first thought up by the current WAHRS president, Chris Livingstone, who recognized the need for an all-aboriginal group run by and decisions made by aboriginal people.
Statistics have shown that in the downtown eastside area that the epidemics (HepC, HIV/AIDS) have hit the native population harder than any other ethnic group. Alcoholism is another major problem amongst the aboriginals as well, not only with hard liquor and beer but with rubbing alcohol, mouthwash and Lysol to name a few, and this is causing a lot more health problems as well as mental health related difficulties.
WAHRS has recognized another problem in this area and that is a need for warm and proper footwear. Shoes and boots can be expensive for persons on limited incomes to purchase; or to have people donate. Socks are inexpensive and not so hard to donate, so this prompted the board of directors of WAHRS to agree on canvassing several companies and organizations for funding or donations of socks to give to the people as they are in need, especially in the winter months (the rainy season in Vancouver). Wet feet can lead to a number of foot problems that could later get much, much worse.
Another of WAHRS initiatives is an alcohol maintenance program. Because of the deadly effects that rubbing alcohol and mouthwash have on a person's system, WAHRS has said that it needed to help the persons drinking this poison by not letting them go 'cold turkey' but by weaning them off by substituting beer. Once they are on this maintenance program, the next step would be a detox or a treatment centre. These initiatives are what this community needs to better the lives of people here, the sicker the people are the more taxing it gets on the entire health system, and it's dollars which is actually is the average Joe's tax dollars.
Although WAHRS is a group of aboriginals trying to help themselves and the people of their community, progress is slow as funding and donations are in short supply.
For more information on WAHRS, please feel free to contact us at (604) 683-8595 or one of our spokespeople at livingstonechris@yahoo.com
You can download a copy of the Bylaws of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society here
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VANDU Women's Group
VANDU women's group is a support, harm reduction, and social change group for women who use drugs.
The mission statement is:
We are a group of women who are current or former users of illicit drugs.
We are here to enrich, empower, embrace and care for our women and our community.
We are fighting against poverty, abuse and discrimination for all women
We do this through user-based peer support, education and affirming the right to belong.
Women are between 20 and 70 with most 35-55 years old. Nearly all smoke crack and about half inject heroin. Women also inject cocaine, use crystal meth and take "licit" drugs illicitly (valium, Tylenol 3s, Rivotril…) Very few of the women who attend the meeting are former drug users. 10-25% are homeless of the women who have housing most live in Single Room Occupancy Hotels. Most have serious health issues, chronic pain, or disabilities, many are very sick and have multiple health issues. The majority of women in the group are currently or have in the past been involved in survival sex (exchanging sex for shelter, drugs, protection, money without the option of saying "no" to dangerous situations) or sex work. Between one third and half of the women are Aboriginal. Most women have more than one child, few have custody or contact with their children.
Topics discussed include: harm reduction; safety; police and community issues; housing; relationships; networking and community events; and services available to women. Occasionally there are guest speakers from organizations such as PEERS (a sex worker organization), PIVOT legal society, Carnegie Community Action project on housing, as well as health researchers.
Between Your World and My World:
Women Drug Users and Academic Researchers Partner for Community-based Health Research in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
Authors: Laurel Dykstra, Amy Salmon, Ann Pederson, Kristy Hoyak, Ann Livingston, Jackie Robinson, Flo Hodgson, and Annette Browne
The Neighbourhood: The VANDU Women CARE project takes place during an era in Canadian history characterized as "a bad time to be poor" (Klein and Long, 2003). The expanded definition of "spouse," the narrowing definition of "work," the emphasis on welfare fraud detection, surveillance, and reporting, welfare rates that do not reflect inflation, skyrocketing housing costs, and an epidemic of homelessness have eroded the concept of “the deserving poor” almost entirely, resulting in a situation where women are impoverished, criminalized, and then blamed for it (Chunn and Gavigan, 2006). Neoliberal policies, the dismantling of the welfare state, the devastating consequences of an ongoing "War on Drugs," and the rise of the prison industries globally, affect women disproportionately and poor women who use drugs all the more (Snider, 2006; Boyd 2004). In this context it is a particularly bad time to be a low-income woman who uses drugs in the DTES, “Canada’s poorest postal code.”
With a notorius reputation as "destination for the nation's poor" and "the epicentre of the city's open-air drug market", Vancouver's DTES is a neighbourhood where the incomes, living standards, and education levels are lowest, and health service utilization rates, including hospitalization, are the highest (c.f. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, 2005). Female injection drug users in this community have mortality rates almost 50 times higher than women in the rest of the province of British Columbia (Spitall, 2006). In a context of poverty, homelessness, and marginalization women are more likely than men to engage in "survival sex," - that is, exchanging sex for food, shelter and/or drugs (McKeown, Reid, Turner, and Orr, 2002) (Nyamathi, Leake, and Gelberg, 2000). In turn, infectious disease, sexually transmitted infections, and other health vulnerabilities result (McKeown et al., 2002; Novac, 1996). Furthermore street-level sex workers experience rates of violence many times those of any other group of women in Canada, violence that ranges from the refusal to wear a condom to torture and murder (Cler-Cunningham and Christensen, 2001). Women in street-level sex trade are murdered at a rate of 60 to 120 times the rate of the general female population. (Lowman and Fraser, 1996).
Despite the identification of safe secure housing as a social determinant of health, Canada has no national housing strategy. The effects of this are very evident in the DTES. In walking the three blocks from the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre to the VANDU office in the middle of any day you can easily pass by ten to twenty individuals sleeping in doorways, down alleys, and under plastic sheets, cardboard boxes and dirty blankets. Thirteen percent of VANDU members are homeless (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users 2006.). Of those who live in the DTES, nearly half live in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Hotels, residential hotels where furnished rooms of 150-200 square feet with a shared bathroom down the hall are rented at a monthly rate. Eighty-five percent of DTES SROs charge more than the shelter portion of a welfare cheque (Vancouver Agreement, 2007) and a recent study reported that 80% of SROs in the DTES had bedbugs and rodents, and 77% had cockroaches (Vancouver Agreement, 2007).
The disproportionate representation of Aboriginal women among Canada's most disenfranchised is also evident in the DTES. Although only about 7% of Vancouver’s population is Aboriginal, Aboriginal people represent approximately 40% of the population in the DTES (Joseph, 1999). In fact, approximately 70% of Vancouver’s Aboriginal population lives in this community. Aboriginal women are also over-represented among survival sex trade workers in the DTES, an indication of the highly gendered and systemic poverty, racism, and marginalization which Aboriginal women encounter across Canada (Anderson et al., 2001 ; Hull, 2001). Seventy percent of sex trade workers in the DTES are Aboriginal women (Burgelhaus and Stokl 2005). Aboriginal women are also the fastest growing group of HIV positive people in the DTES and are three times more likely to die of HIV/AIDS than other Vancouver women (Joseph, 1999). For Aboriginal women, the survival sex trade occurs in a context of colonization (Farley, Lynne, and Cotton, 2005; Lynne, 1998; Scully, 2001). The combined effects of poverty, race discrimination and cultural losses profoundly affect Aboriginal peoples and are significant contributing factors to inequities in health status among Aboriginal women in the DTES.
Harm Reduction for Women: Vancouver is recognized internationally for its policies and programs supporting harm reduction. To date, harm reduction services for illicit drug users in the DTES have concentrated on the prevention of harms directly attributable to substance use- and most particularly injection drug use- such as overdose, transmission of HIV and hepatitis C, abcesses, and vein injuries. In the DTES, the majority of injection drug users are male (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), 2006) and the harm reduction movenent has operated on an assumption that holds true for many men: most harms come from drug use and a social context in which people who use drugs are marginalized and criminalized. However, women who use illicit drugs are vulnerable to many health problems which have not been adequately addressed in harm reduction research and programs to date. These include violence-related injuries and chronic pain, mental illnesses, malnutrition, infectious disease, sexually transmitted infections, and health problems attributed to inadequate housing or homelessness (Crowell and Burgess, 1996; Farley et al., 2005; Friedman and Yehuda, 1995; Golding, 1994; Novac, 1996).
Members of the VANDU Women's Group report that crack use is more common among women in the DTES because crack is less expensive than other drugs (such as heroin), and because women who need assistance to inject are able to have more control over their drug use when they can smoke them. However, research into the harms of crack smoking lags far behind that of injection drugs, as do funding, programs and opportunities that follow research. Few harm reduction initiatives in the city have addressed the unique harms associated with crack use such as lung and throat damage and hepatitis C transmitted by sharing mouthpieces, or the harms associated with drug-related survival sex work including unsafe sex, violence, and social isolation (Safer Crack Use Outreach Research and Education (SCORE), 2007).
Women who participated in the VANDU Women CARE project have indicated that the greatest harms in their lives are not harms from drug use, but harms from violence. As a member of our project team notes, most women who use drugs risk assault and theft from "anyone who is bigger and wants their dope". Women who are involved in street level sex trade are physically assaulted, raped, and murdered by johns, by intimate partners and predatory criminals who target them, taking advantage of their vulnerability and society’s lack of regard for them (Cler-Cunningham and Christensen, 2001). Beyond this, women who use illegal drugs in the DTES live daily with the structural violence of poverty, criminalization and racism. These are harms that are not addressed by access to condoms, needles, safe consumption sites, or inhalation education.
***
In the face of these challenges and conditions, the DTES is also a vibrant and complex 'community of communities' with a strong history of women’s leadership. An incredible mosaic of people from all cultures come together through various community projects to promote unity, dignity, multiculturalism, families, and the creative spirit in ways that strive to be respectful and inclusive (Bordier, 2004; dtes.ca, 2007). While the health and social conditions of DTES residents deserve attention from policy-makers, service providers, and activists alike, totalizing and pathologizing representations of this community often ignore the strength and resiliency of the DTES and its residents (Chilvers, 2003).
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VANDU Empowerment Employment Project
VANDU Empowerment is a social enterprise created by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), a group of users and former users who work to improve the lives of people who use illicit drugs through user-based peer support and education.
VANDU Empowerment's purpose is to do the work that other companies lack the expertise to do and, if left undone would add to the misery and hardship of marginalized people.
VANDU Empowerment services range from preparing rooms for pest control to consulting services.
VANDU Empowerment seeks the consultation and expertise of VANDU members when creating new projects and services.
VANDU Empowerment employs VANDU members to perform many of their services.
VANDU Empowerment donates 75% of its pre-tax profits to VANDU to help VANDU carry out its mission.
Visit the Empowerment website or contact annlive @ telus.net
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BC / Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors
With a membership comprised of user groups and drug users activists, the Association was formed at the Pacific Summit on Drug User Health, held in Vancouver in June 2009. The Summit brought together over 100 active drug users from British Columbia and the Yukon, as well as non-user volunteers and professionals with the goal of the meeting was to unite the sentiments of former and current users. The Association is the realization of that goal.
The Association is to be separated into the same regions that exist already under the B.C. Health Care system: Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Interior Health, Northern Health, and Vancouver Island Health Authority, as well as members from the Yukon as a whole.
As of August 2009 the BC / Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors is engaged in the process of developing its web site
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Pedestrian Safety Project
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If you are now using methadone or considering it as an alternative to heroin, live in Vancouver, and would like more information on methadone use or just want to talk to others who know what you're going through, then come & check us out at one of our meetings every Wednesday afternoon at 2pm at 380 East Hastings St., Vancouver (VANDU office).
We can clarify myths and misinformation on methadone such as:
1. What is methadone?
Answer: Methadone is a synthetic opiate that is legal and long lasting. It is used in the treatment of heroin dependant people to help them stabilize their lives.
2. Is methadone more addictive than heroin?
Answer: Although withdrawing from methadone takes longer than heroin, methadone is not more addictive. Gradual withdrawal from methadone is virtually free of discomfort.
3. Does methadone rot your teeth & get into your bones?
Answer: Many heroin addicts do not take care of their teeth but find, when stabilized on methadone, they become aware of these things. The 'sore bones' is usually due to prolonged 'cold turkey'. Also one of the side effects of methadone, like many other medications, is that you may experience 'dry mouth'', this can make your teeth more prone to the production of plaque, which is a major cause of gum disease & tooth decay. Regular brushing & flossing can remedy this. As for 'sore bones' or 'bone rot' this is usually a symptom of too low a dose. 'Bone ache' which in turn feels like 'rot' is methadone withdrawal can be corrected by an adjustment of your daily methadone dose.
4. Is methadone dangerous?
Answer: Methadone when prescribed at a proper dose and monitored by a qualified doctor is very safe, however it can be very dangerous if used inappropriately. Do not give or take methadone if it is not prescribed to you, this can lead to overdose and even death.
Please read our constitution which can give you a better understanding of our goals.
Part 1 - Interpretation
1. (1) In these bylaws, unless the context otherwise requires,
(a) "directors" means the directors of the society for the time being;
(b) "Society Act" means the society act of the Province of British Columbia from time to time in force and all amendments to it;
(c) "registered address" of a member means his address as recorded in the register of members.
(2) The definitions in the Society Act if the date these bylaws become effective apply to these bylaws.
2. Words importing the singular include the plural and vice versa; and words importing a male person include a female person and a corporation.
Part 2 - Membership
3. (1) There shall be two types of membership;
(a) A full member shall be a person who has formerly (past eighteen month) or is presently in methadone maintenance therapy and shall have both voice and vote at all meetings.
(b) A supporting member shall be a person who has not formerly and is not presently in methadone maintenance therapy and shall have voice but no vote at all meetings
4. A person may apply to the directors for membership in the society and on acceptance by The directors shall be a member.
5. Every member shall uphold the constitution and comply with these bylaws.
6. Membership dues if any, shall be determined by the membership from time to time.
7. A person shall cease to be a member of the society
(a) by delivering his resignation in writing to the secretary or by mailing or delivering it to the address of the society.
(b) or on his death or in case of a corporation on dissolution.
(c) on being expelled; or
(d) on having been a member not in good standing for 12 consecutive months.
8. (1) A member may be expelled by a special resolution of the members passed at a general meeting.
(2) It is the duty of the society to seek alternative solutions, proposing a special resolution for expulsion only as a final resort.
(3) The notice of special resolution for expulsion shall be delivered to the member at least 14 days prior to the general meeting, accompanied by full particulars stating the reason(s) for the proposed expulsion.
(4) The person who is the subject of the proposed resolution for expulsion shall be given an opportunity to be heard at the general meeting before the special resolution is put to vote.
9. All members are in good standing except a member who has failed to pay his current annual general membership fee or any other debt due and owing by him to the society and he is not in good standing so long as the debt remains unpaid.
Part 3 - Meetings of the Members
10. General meetings shall be held at the time and place, in accordance with the Society Act, that the directors decide.
11. Every general meeting other than an annual general meeting is an extraordinary general meeting.
12. Upon receipt of a written request from not less than 10% of the directors shall convene an extraordinary general meeting within 21 days of receiving such a request.
13. At least 14 days written notice of a general meeting shall be given to every member and in addition shall be publicly posted in all areas frequented by the members. The notice shall specify the place, day, and hour, as well as the reason for the meeting.
14. The first annual general meeting of the society shall be held not more than 15 months after the date of incorporation and after that an annual general meeting shall be held at least once in every calendar year and not more than 15 months after holding the last preceding annual general meeting.
15. The annual general meeting shall, as a minimum requirement, include the following points:
(a) Adoption of the rules of order;
(b) Approval of agenda;
(c) Consideration of the financial statements;
(d) Presentation of Directors report(s).
(e) Auditor report;
(f) The election of directors;
(g) The other business that, under these bylaws, ought to be transacted at an annual general meeting, or business which is brought under consideration by the report of the directors issued with the notice of convening meeting.
16. (1) No business, other than the election of a chairman and the adjournment or termination of the meeting shall be conducted at a general meeting at a time when a quorum is not present.
(2) If at any time during the general meting there ceases to be a quorum present, business then in progress shall be suspended until there is a quorum present or until the meeting is adjourned or terminated.
(3) A quorum is 3 members present or a greater number that the members may determine at a general meeting.
17. If within 30 minutes from the time appointed for a general meeting a quorum is not present, the meeting, if convened on the requisition of the members, shall be terminated, but in any other case, it shall stand adjourned to the same day in the next week, at the same time and place, and if at the adjourned meeting, a quorum is not present within 30 minutes from the time appointed for the meeting, the members present constitute a quorum, providing there is never less than 3 members present.
18. Subject to bylaw 19, the president, vice president, or in the absence of both, one of the other directors present, shall preside as chairman of a general meeting.
19. If at a general meeting
(a) There is no president, vice president or other director present within minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting; or
(b) The president and all other directors are unwilling to act as chairman, the members present shall choose one of their number to be chairman.
20. (1) A general meeting may be adjourned from time to time and from place to place. no business shall be transacted at an adjourned meeting other than the business left unfinished at the meeting from which the adjournment took place.
(2) In case of n equality of votes the chairman shall not have a casting or second vote in addition to the vote to which he may be entitled as a member and the resolution shall not pass.
21. (1) No resolution proposed at a meeting need be seconded and the chairman of a meeting may move or propose a resolution.
(2) When a meeting is adjourned for 10 days or more, notice of the adjourned meeting shall be given as in the case of the original meeting.
(3) Except as provided in this bylaw, it is not necessary to give notice of an adjournment or other business to be transacted at an adjourned meeting.
22. (1) A full member in good standing present at a meeting of members is entitled to one vote and a supporting member is entitled to voice but no vote.
(2) Voting is by a show of hands unless otherwise determined by the members present.
(3) Voting by proxy is not permitted.
23. A corporate supporting member, through its authorized representative is entitled to speak but not to vote, but in all other respects exercise the rights of a member, and that representative shall be reckoned as a supporting member for all purposes with respect to a meeting of the society.
Part 4 - Directors and Officers
24. (1) The directors may exercise all the powers and do all the acts and things that the society may exercise and do, and which are not by these bylaws or statutes or otherwise lawfully directed or required to be exercise or done by the society in general meeting, but subject, nevertheless, to (a) All laws affecting the society:
(b) these bylaws; and
(c) rules, not be inconsistent with these bylaws, which are made from time to time by the society in general meeting.
(2) No rule, made by the society in general meeting, invalidates a prior act of the directors that would have been valid if that rule had not been made.
25. (1) The president, vice president, secretary, treasurer and one or more other persons shall be directors of the society.
(2) The number of directors shall be 5 full members or a greater number determined from time to time at a general meeting.
(3) The members may direct that an advisory committee made up of supportive members be set up from tome to time and in a number to be determined in a general meeting.
26. (1) The directors shall retire from office at each annual general meeting when their successors shall be elected.
(2) Separate elections shall be held for each office to be filled.
(3) An election may be by acclimation, otherwise it shall be by ballot.
(4) If no successor is elected the person previously elected or appointed continues to hold office.
27. (1) The directors may at any time and from time to time appoint a member as a director to fill a vacancy in the directors.
(2) A director so appointed holds office only until the conclusion of the next following annual general meeting of the society, but is eligible for re-election at the meeting.
28. (1) If a director resigns his office or otherwise ceases to hold office, the remaining directors shall appoint a member to take the place of the former director.
(2) No act or proceeding of the directors os invalid only by reason of there being less than the prescribed numbers of directors in office.
29. The members may by special resolution remove a director before the expiration of his term of office, and may elect a successor to complete the term of office.
30. No director shall be remunerated for being or acting as a director but a director shall be reimbursed for all expenses necessarily and reasonably incurred by him while engaged in the affairs of the society.
Part 5 - Proceedings of Directors
31. (1) The directors may meet together at the places they think fit to dispatch business, adjourn and otherwise regulate their meetings and proceedings, as they see fit.
(2) The directors may from time to time fix the quorum necessary to transact business, and unless so fixed the quorum shall be a majority of the directors then in office.
(3) The president shall be chairman of all meetings of the directors, but may appoint another director to chair a meeting with the consent of all other directors present, but if at a meeting the president is not present within 15 minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting the directors present may choose one of their number to be chairman at the meeting.
(4) A director may at any time, and the secretary, on the request of a director, shall, convene a meeting of the directors.
32 (1) The directors may delegate any, but not all, of their powers to committees consisting of the directors or directors as they think fit.
(2) A committee so formed in the exercise of the powers so delegated shall conform to any rules imposed on it by the directors, and shall report every act or thing done in exercise of those powers to the earliest meeting of the directors to be held after it has been done.
33. A committee shall elect a chairman of its meetings; but if no chairman is elected, or if at a meeting the chairman is not present within 30 minutes after the time appointed for holding the meeting, the directors present who are members of the committee shall choose one of their number to be chairman of the meeting.
34. The members of a committee may meet and adjourn as they think proper.
35. For a first meeting of directors held immediately following the appointment or election of a director or directors at an annual general meeting of members, or for a meeting of the director at which a director is appointed to fill a vacancy in the directors, it is not necessary to give notice of the meeting to the newly elected or appointed director or directors for the meeting to be constituted, if a quorum of directors is present.
36. A director who may be absent temporarily from British Columbia may send or deliver to the address of the society a waiver of notice, which may be by letter, telegram, telex, or cable, of any meeting of the directors and may at any time withdraw the waiver, and until the waiver is withdrawn,
(a) No notice of meeting of directors shall be sent to that director, and
(b) any and all meetings of the directors of the society, notice of which has not been given to that director shall, if a quorum of the directors is present, be valid and effective.
37. (1) Questions arising at a meeting of the directors and committee of directors shall be decided by a majority of votes.
(2) In case of an equality of votes the chairman does not have second or casting vote.
38. No resolution proposed at a meeting of directors or committee of directors need be seconded and the chairman of a meeting may move or propose a resolution.
39. A resolution in writing, signed by all the directors and placed with the minutes of the directors is as valid and effective as if regularly passed at a meeting of directors.
Part 6 - Duties of Officers
40. (1) The president shall preside at all meeting of the society of the directors.
(2) The president is the chief executive officer of the society and shall supervise the other officers in the execution of their duties.
41. The vice-president shall carry out the duties of the president during his absence.
42 The secretary shall
(a) conduct the correspondence of the society;
(b) issue notices of all meetings of the society and directors;
(c) keep minutes of all meetings of the society and directors;
(d) have custody of all records and documents of the society except those required to be kept by the treasurer;
(e) have custody of the common seal of the society; and
(f) maintain the register of members.
43. The treasurer shall
(a) keep the financial records, including books of account, necessary to comply with the Society Act; and
(b) render financial statements to the directors, members and others when required.
44. (1) The offices of secretary and treasurer may be held by one person who shall be known as the secretary treasurer.
(2) When a secretary treasurer holds office the total number of directors shall not be less than 5 or the greater number that may have been determined pursuant to bylaw 25 (2).
45. In the absence of the secretary from a meeting, the directors shall appoint another person to act as secretary at the meeting.
Part 7 - Seal
46. The directors may provide a common seal for the society and may destroy a seal and substitute a new seal in its place.
47. The common seal shall be affixed only when authorized by a resolution of the directors and then only in the presence of the persons prescribed in the resolution, or if no persons are prescribed, in the presence of the president and secretary or president and secretary treasurer.
Part 8 - Borrowing
48. In order to carry out the purpose of the society the directors may, on behalf of and in name of the society, raise or secure the payment or repayment of money in the manner they decide, and in particular but without limiting the foregoing, by the issue of debentures
49. No debenture shall be issued without the sanction of a special resolution.
50. The members may by special resolution restrict the borrowing powers of the directors, but a restriction imposed expires at the next annual general meeting.
51. The first auditor shall be appointed by the directors who shall also fill all vacancies occurring in the office of auditor.
52. At each annual general meeting the society shall appoint an auditor to hold office until he is re-elected or his successor is elected at the next annual general meeting.
53. An auditor may be removed by ordinary resolution.
54. An auditor shall be promptly informed in writing of appointment or removal.
55. No director and no employee of the society shall be auditor.
56. The auditor may attend general meetings.
Part 10 - Notices to Members
57. A notice may be given to a member, either personally or by mail to him at his registered address.
58. In addition to the written notice, notices of all general meetings must be posted publicly in and in such a manner as to be reasonably seen by all members and in such areas as a majority of members may frequent.
59. A notice sent by mail shall be deemed to have been given on the second day following that on which the notice is posted, and in proving that notice has been given it is sufficient to prove the notice was properly addressed and put in a Canadian post office receptacle.
60 (1) Notice of a general meeting shall be given to
(a) the members shown on the register of members on the day notice is given, and
(b) The auditor.
(2) No other person is entitled to receive a notice of general meeting.
Part 11 - Bylaws
61. On being admitted to membership, each member is entitled to and the society shall give him, without charge, a copy of the constitution and bylaws of the society.
62. These bylaws shall not be altered or added to except by special resolution.
June, 2000
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As a membership-driven organization, VANDU's elected Board of Directors meets weekly to discuss matters relevant to the organization and the community. Board meetings are limited in participation to Board members only, but general membership and members of the community at large may attend and observe.
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Details regarding VANDU's Board Development Meetings will be updated periodically.
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At VANDU, we provide volunteer work opportunities in the form of coffee shifts at the VANDU office, needle exchange shifts at the Health Contact Centre, and special projects. Shifts are assigned weekly on Fridays.
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WAHRS is a group that first started in 2002 as a subgroup of VANDU. The idea was first thought up by the current WAHRS president, Chris Livingstone, who recognized the need for an all-aboriginal group run by and decisions made by aboriginal people.
Statistics have shown that in the downtown eastside area that the epidemics (HepC, HIV/AIDS) have hit the native population harder than any other ethnic group. Alcoholism is another major problem amongst the aboriginals as well, not only with hard liquor and beer but with rubbing alcohol, mouthwash and Lysol to name a few, and this is causing a lot more health problems as well as mental health related difficulties.
WAHRS has recognized another problem in this area and that is a need for warm and proper footwear. Shoes and boots can be expensive for persons on limited incomes to purchase; or to have people donate. Socks are inexpensive and not so hard to donate, so this prompted the board of directors of WAHRS to agree on canvassing several companies and organizations for funding or donations of socks to give to the people as they are in need, especially in the winter months (the rainy season in Vancouver). Wet feet can lead to a number of foot problems that could later get much, much worse.
Another of WAHRS initiatives is an alcohol maintenance program. Because of the deadly effects that rubbing alcohol and mouthwash have on a person's system, WAHRS has said that it needed to help the persons drinking this poison by not letting them go 'cold turkey' but by weaning them off by substituting beer. Once they are on this maintenance program, the next step would be a detox or a treatment centre. These initiatives are what this community needs to better the lives of people here, the sicker the people are the more taxing it gets on the entire health system, and it's dollars which is actually is the average Joe's tax dollars.
Although WAHRS is a group of aboriginals trying to help themselves and the people of their community, progress is slow as funding and donations are in short supply.
For more information on WAHRS, please feel free to contact us at (604) 683-8595 or one of our spokespeople at livingstonechris@yahoo.com
WAHRS CONSTITUTION
1. The name of the society is: Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society
2. The purposes of the society are:
- (a) To celebrate our inherent strengths as indigenous peoples that has allowed us to resist extinction
- (b) To recover a holistic traditional philosophy, to reconnect with our spirituality and culture, and to infuse our politics and our relationships with traditional values
- (c) To create sound communities, individual empowerment and the re-establishment of relationships based on traditional Native values
- (d) To improve the quality of life for people who are Aboriginal who use illicit drugs by encouraging the development of support, education and training programs that reflect values of Aboriginal people
- (e) To develop networks and coalitions of informed and empowered people who work to improve the health of Aboriginal people who use illicit drugs and illicit alcohol
- (f) To ensure that a voice for people who are Aboriginal who use illicit drugs is empowered, strengthened and heard by policy makers, service providers and the public concerning societal, economic, health and treatment issues related to the use of illicit drugs and illicit alcohol
- (g) To purchase, sell and/or lease property, equipment and materials that are deemed necessary to accomplish the society’s purposes.
You can download a copy of the Bylaws of the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society here
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VANDU women's group is a support, harm reduction, and social change group for women who use drugs.
The mission statement is:
We are here to enrich, empower, embrace and care for our women and our community.
We are fighting against poverty, abuse and discrimination for all women
We do this through user-based peer support, education and affirming the right to belong.
Women are between 20 and 70 with most 35-55 years old. Nearly all smoke crack and about half inject heroin. Women also inject cocaine, use crystal meth and take "licit" drugs illicitly (valium, Tylenol 3s, Rivotril…) Very few of the women who attend the meeting are former drug users. 10-25% are homeless of the women who have housing most live in Single Room Occupancy Hotels. Most have serious health issues, chronic pain, or disabilities, many are very sick and have multiple health issues. The majority of women in the group are currently or have in the past been involved in survival sex (exchanging sex for shelter, drugs, protection, money without the option of saying "no" to dangerous situations) or sex work. Between one third and half of the women are Aboriginal. Most women have more than one child, few have custody or contact with their children.
Topics discussed include: harm reduction; safety; police and community issues; housing; relationships; networking and community events; and services available to women. Occasionally there are guest speakers from organizations such as PEERS (a sex worker organization), PIVOT legal society, Carnegie Community Action project on housing, as well as health researchers.
Women Drug Users and Academic Researchers Partner for Community-based Health Research in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside
Authors: Laurel Dykstra, Amy Salmon, Ann Pederson, Kristy Hoyak, Ann Livingston, Jackie Robinson, Flo Hodgson, and Annette Browne
The Neighbourhood: The VANDU Women CARE project takes place during an era in Canadian history characterized as "a bad time to be poor" (Klein and Long, 2003). The expanded definition of "spouse," the narrowing definition of "work," the emphasis on welfare fraud detection, surveillance, and reporting, welfare rates that do not reflect inflation, skyrocketing housing costs, and an epidemic of homelessness have eroded the concept of “the deserving poor” almost entirely, resulting in a situation where women are impoverished, criminalized, and then blamed for it (Chunn and Gavigan, 2006). Neoliberal policies, the dismantling of the welfare state, the devastating consequences of an ongoing "War on Drugs," and the rise of the prison industries globally, affect women disproportionately and poor women who use drugs all the more (Snider, 2006; Boyd 2004). In this context it is a particularly bad time to be a low-income woman who uses drugs in the DTES, “Canada’s poorest postal code.”
With a notorius reputation as "destination for the nation's poor" and "the epicentre of the city's open-air drug market", Vancouver's DTES is a neighbourhood where the incomes, living standards, and education levels are lowest, and health service utilization rates, including hospitalization, are the highest (c.f. Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, 2005). Female injection drug users in this community have mortality rates almost 50 times higher than women in the rest of the province of British Columbia (Spitall, 2006). In a context of poverty, homelessness, and marginalization women are more likely than men to engage in "survival sex," - that is, exchanging sex for food, shelter and/or drugs (McKeown, Reid, Turner, and Orr, 2002) (Nyamathi, Leake, and Gelberg, 2000). In turn, infectious disease, sexually transmitted infections, and other health vulnerabilities result (McKeown et al., 2002; Novac, 1996). Furthermore street-level sex workers experience rates of violence many times those of any other group of women in Canada, violence that ranges from the refusal to wear a condom to torture and murder (Cler-Cunningham and Christensen, 2001). Women in street-level sex trade are murdered at a rate of 60 to 120 times the rate of the general female population. (Lowman and Fraser, 1996).
Despite the identification of safe secure housing as a social determinant of health, Canada has no national housing strategy. The effects of this are very evident in the DTES. In walking the three blocks from the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre to the VANDU office in the middle of any day you can easily pass by ten to twenty individuals sleeping in doorways, down alleys, and under plastic sheets, cardboard boxes and dirty blankets. Thirteen percent of VANDU members are homeless (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users 2006.). Of those who live in the DTES, nearly half live in Single Room Occupancy (SRO) Hotels, residential hotels where furnished rooms of 150-200 square feet with a shared bathroom down the hall are rented at a monthly rate. Eighty-five percent of DTES SROs charge more than the shelter portion of a welfare cheque (Vancouver Agreement, 2007) and a recent study reported that 80% of SROs in the DTES had bedbugs and rodents, and 77% had cockroaches (Vancouver Agreement, 2007).
The disproportionate representation of Aboriginal women among Canada's most disenfranchised is also evident in the DTES. Although only about 7% of Vancouver’s population is Aboriginal, Aboriginal people represent approximately 40% of the population in the DTES (Joseph, 1999). In fact, approximately 70% of Vancouver’s Aboriginal population lives in this community. Aboriginal women are also over-represented among survival sex trade workers in the DTES, an indication of the highly gendered and systemic poverty, racism, and marginalization which Aboriginal women encounter across Canada (Anderson et al., 2001 ; Hull, 2001). Seventy percent of sex trade workers in the DTES are Aboriginal women (Burgelhaus and Stokl 2005). Aboriginal women are also the fastest growing group of HIV positive people in the DTES and are three times more likely to die of HIV/AIDS than other Vancouver women (Joseph, 1999). For Aboriginal women, the survival sex trade occurs in a context of colonization (Farley, Lynne, and Cotton, 2005; Lynne, 1998; Scully, 2001). The combined effects of poverty, race discrimination and cultural losses profoundly affect Aboriginal peoples and are significant contributing factors to inequities in health status among Aboriginal women in the DTES.
Harm Reduction for Women: Vancouver is recognized internationally for its policies and programs supporting harm reduction. To date, harm reduction services for illicit drug users in the DTES have concentrated on the prevention of harms directly attributable to substance use- and most particularly injection drug use- such as overdose, transmission of HIV and hepatitis C, abcesses, and vein injuries. In the DTES, the majority of injection drug users are male (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), 2006) and the harm reduction movenent has operated on an assumption that holds true for many men: most harms come from drug use and a social context in which people who use drugs are marginalized and criminalized. However, women who use illicit drugs are vulnerable to many health problems which have not been adequately addressed in harm reduction research and programs to date. These include violence-related injuries and chronic pain, mental illnesses, malnutrition, infectious disease, sexually transmitted infections, and health problems attributed to inadequate housing or homelessness (Crowell and Burgess, 1996; Farley et al., 2005; Friedman and Yehuda, 1995; Golding, 1994; Novac, 1996).
Members of the VANDU Women's Group report that crack use is more common among women in the DTES because crack is less expensive than other drugs (such as heroin), and because women who need assistance to inject are able to have more control over their drug use when they can smoke them. However, research into the harms of crack smoking lags far behind that of injection drugs, as do funding, programs and opportunities that follow research. Few harm reduction initiatives in the city have addressed the unique harms associated with crack use such as lung and throat damage and hepatitis C transmitted by sharing mouthpieces, or the harms associated with drug-related survival sex work including unsafe sex, violence, and social isolation (Safer Crack Use Outreach Research and Education (SCORE), 2007).
Women who participated in the VANDU Women CARE project have indicated that the greatest harms in their lives are not harms from drug use, but harms from violence. As a member of our project team notes, most women who use drugs risk assault and theft from "anyone who is bigger and wants their dope". Women who are involved in street level sex trade are physically assaulted, raped, and murdered by johns, by intimate partners and predatory criminals who target them, taking advantage of their vulnerability and society’s lack of regard for them (Cler-Cunningham and Christensen, 2001). Beyond this, women who use illegal drugs in the DTES live daily with the structural violence of poverty, criminalization and racism. These are harms that are not addressed by access to condoms, needles, safe consumption sites, or inhalation education.
In the face of these challenges and conditions, the DTES is also a vibrant and complex 'community of communities' with a strong history of women’s leadership. An incredible mosaic of people from all cultures come together through various community projects to promote unity, dignity, multiculturalism, families, and the creative spirit in ways that strive to be respectful and inclusive (Bordier, 2004; dtes.ca, 2007). While the health and social conditions of DTES residents deserve attention from policy-makers, service providers, and activists alike, totalizing and pathologizing representations of this community often ignore the strength and resiliency of the DTES and its residents (Chilvers, 2003).
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VANDU Empowerment is a social enterprise created by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU), a group of users and former users who work to improve the lives of people who use illicit drugs through user-based peer support and education.
VANDU Empowerment's purpose is to do the work that other companies lack the expertise to do and, if left undone would add to the misery and hardship of marginalized people.
VANDU Empowerment services range from preparing rooms for pest control to consulting services.
VANDU Empowerment seeks the consultation and expertise of VANDU members when creating new projects and services.
VANDU Empowerment employs VANDU members to perform many of their services.
VANDU Empowerment donates 75% of its pre-tax profits to VANDU to help VANDU carry out its mission.
Visit the Empowerment website or contact annlive @ telus.net
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With a membership comprised of user groups and drug users activists, the Association was formed at the Pacific Summit on Drug User Health, held in Vancouver in June 2009. The Summit brought together over 100 active drug users from British Columbia and the Yukon, as well as non-user volunteers and professionals with the goal of the meeting was to unite the sentiments of former and current users. The Association is the realization of that goal.
The Association is to be separated into the same regions that exist already under the B.C. Health Care system: Fraser Health, Vancouver Coastal Health, Interior Health, Northern Health, and Vancouver Island Health Authority, as well as members from the Yukon as a whole.
The Purposes of the Association are:
- To celebrate the strengths we have as people who use drugs that allows us to survive and resist the war on drugs
- To realize, deepen and share the love, comaraderie, and wisdom found in drug user support groups
- To impower people who currently use drugs deemed illegal to survive and to thrive, with their human rights respected and their voices heard
- To improve the quality of life for people who use illicit drugs by developing and implementing educational programs and training events that ensure learning opportunities about safer drug use and harm reduction
- To establish an inclusive social justice network for people who use drugs that encourages, supports and welcomes drug users from across British Columbia and connects them with drug user networks accress British Columbia, across Canada, and across the world
- To develop networks and coalitions of informed and empowered people, both users and nonusers, which work to improve the health and social conditions of people who use illicit drugs
- To promote a better public understanding of the problems and dilemmas facing people who use illegal drugs and thus encourage the development of saner drug policies and laws at local, regional and national levels
- To ensure that the voices of people who use illicit drugs are strengthened and empowered so that their concerns about social, medical and economic issues can be heard by policy makers, service providers, and the public at large
Six Points of Unity of the Association:
- We are a group of survivors of the drug war
- We strive for social justice and advocate for human rights for people who use drugs.
- We work to eliminate the discrimination, criminalization, stigmatization and isolation of people who use drugs in all areas of social, economic and political life.
- We are against the prohibition of drugs, and for the regulation of currently illegal drugs
- "Our Lives, Our Voice, Our Way" - people who use drugs must have real representation and power within those institutions that have a significant impact on our lives.
- We recognize that various groups are differently affected by the harms associated with the use of drugs, and they may need to organize autonomously as well as part of the larger group. We support the self-directed empowerment of drug war survivors and are committed to the diversity and autonomy of our members.
As of August 2009 the BC / Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors is engaged in the process of developing its web site
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The Downtown Eastside Pedestrian Safety Project is a pilot program being run by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) to address the high number of pedestrian injuries along Hastings Street in the Downtown Eastside. The three main components of the project are data collection, education, and community outreach. Running until March 2010, the goals of the project are to increase awareness about the issue of pedestrian safety in the Downtown Eastside and what people can do to improve the situation; to increase our knowledge of the issue; and to engage Downtown Eastside residents in finding long-term solutions.
Data Collection
Volunteers from the community will be out on the street observing and recording driver and pedestrian volumes and behaviours and noting the design of the streets and sidewalks. Pedestrians will also be asked to fill out a survey. Similar information will be collected towards the end of the project for evaluation purposes.
Education
Volunteers will be out on the street and at different locations in the Downtown Eastside. We want to educate people who walk and drive in our neighbourhood about the high number of people getting hit by cars and what they can do to make it safer. We'll be talking to people, handing out information, carrying signs, and other things to get our message out.
Community Outreach
We want to hear stories and concerns aout pedestrian safety from the people who live in the Downtown Eastside, as well as their opinions about how to make their community safer. We believe residents know their neighbourhood better than anyone, and will be holding workshops and focus groups to find out what they think. If you see a notice for one of our workshops, come tell us what you think and have your voice heard.
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