Howard S. Lotsof, User Activist and Ibogaine Advocate, passes away
A wonderful friend of the drug user movement worldwide, and a life-long drug user activist, Howard S. Lotsof passed away from liver cancer at age 67 in Staten Island, New York on January 31, 2010. Howard is survived by his wife of many decades, Norma.
Knowing that Howard's cancer would soon be fatal, in March 2009 there was a tribute gathering for Howard at Sayulita, Mexico, in which Howard was able to participate and present A Story of My Life and Years.
on Drug User Activism in Copenhagen, November 2008
(click picture to enlarge)
Howard was active in user-focused and drug policy conferences and was the world's leading non-African proponent of ibogaine treatment for opiate depedency. Howard first discovered ibogaine's properties in the mid-1960's when he used it himself and discovered he was able to stop using heroin without any withdrawal symptoms. Download a presentation Howard gave at 2008 Drug User Activism Conference entitled The Ibogaine Community Worldwide - User to User
Howard was the president and founding member of the Dora Weiner Foundation "to encourage and promote public knowledge of research in the study of chemical dependence and substance-related disorders and to advocate for the rights of patients being treated for dependence to drugs"; he was a board member of NAMA (National Alliance for Medication Assisted Recovery); he helped to found and maintain The Ibogaine Dossier, an extensive online library dedicated to providing information on ibogaine, an experimental antiaddictive medication; and he was the recepient of many awards for his work on behalf of medically-assisted treatment for opiate users, such as the Award for Achievement in the Field of Citizen Action at the Drug Policy Alliance Conference in November 2009.
Howard was a wonderful human being, and as such, a sensitive, caring and committed social activist. Please download a brief obituary.
See Howard's obit in the New York Times
February 7, 2010
Poverty Olympics Torch Relay starts at VANDU office
Grinding poverty and growing homelessness are happening despite some bold promises to create a positive Olympic legacy — promises such as building more social housing, reducing homelessness, and not displacing poor people to make way for Olympics-driven development.
February 4, 2010
VANDU in New York Times Olympic's background article
VANDU was mentioned in a New York Times article entitled "In the Shadow of the Olympics". Accompanying the article is a slideshow called "Welcome to the Downtown Eastside".
To view the article and slideshow, click NY Times article
February 2, 2010
VANDU creates a Facebook page
If you are using Facebook, please visit VANDU's Facebook page and become a Fan. Click on the icon.
February 1, 2010
VANDU partners with Safe Games 2010
Safe Games 2010 is a consortium of over 30 Vancouver based organizations who provide harm reduction based services in the community. SafeGames 2010 seeks to educate people who may not be aware of the risks of their own behaviour, to highlight the Vancouver’s reputation as a global leader in innovative harm reduction policies and practices, and to support the ongoing work of the many organisations working to provide solutions to Vancouver’s public health challenges. VANDU is one of the partners in this consortim.
Visit the Safe Games 2010 websiteVANDU updates basic pamphlet
VANDU's basic pamphlet for handout outlines our mission, what's going on around VANDU, and how to become a member.
Copies are available at the VANDU office (380 E. Hastings).
Or please download .pdf version of our updated pamphlet here
Abusing the User
Well documented report about police misconduct towards injection drug users in Vancouver.
Abusing the User: Police Misconduct, Harm Reduction and HIV/AIDS in Vancouver originally appeared in the May 2003 edition of Human Rights Watch journal.
Download available here.
January 21, 2010
Article and video coverage of Penny's memorial in the Abbotsford News. Read here
Penny Jodway Memorial
Memorial for Drug War Survivors member on January 19, 2010
InSite safe for now
Appeal Court upholds Pitfield Ruling, January 15, 2010
The federal government appealed the 2008 Pitfield ruling which essentially ruled that drug users rights to health is fundamentally more important that laws against drugs. Now the B.C. Appeal Court has upheld that original ruling. Although the Feds are likely to appeal again to the Federal Supreme Court this latest Appeal Court ruling is surely a victory for the right of drug users to relevant health services.
Read the full 110 page ruling here
Bud Osborn reading his poetry
Drug Users Health Summit, June 12, 2009
Bud Osborn at Drug Users Health Summit from vandu on Vimeo.
JUNK MAIL - magazine produced by Australian drug users organizationThe Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) is the national, umbrella organization which represents all the local and regional user groups in Australia. It is responsible for developing national policy, lobbying the federal government, and many other things, including the production of the organization's magazine, JUNK MAIL.
AIVL has an excellent website at which you can download all 13 issues of JUNK MAIL.
JUNK MAIL is entirely user produced. As they say "for users, by users". It has a very high production value, and each issue is crammed full of valuable information. Some articles are of general interest - such as describing Hep C, whereas other articles are specifically meant for users - how to prepare a whack of whiz. You can download JUNK MAIL here.
Drug Users' Charter of Rights
10 specific, detailed rights for drug users were elaborated by Russell Newcombe, researcher for Lifeline in the U.K., at a conference in 2007. Since then this documents has formed the basis for much discussion about the establishment of structured societal protection for drug users.
Drug Users' Charter of Rights document download
No to Ticketing in the DTES
VANDU members speak out against the Vancouver Police Department
ticketing the poor in the Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.
Police are ticketing people for jay-walking, leaving the sidewalk, smoking in a doorwar, and other petty offences. Fines quickly add up to the hundreds of dollars and police levy such fines knowing full well the individuals issued tickets will be unable to afford such fines. Since there is no diversion option, such as community service, people end up doing months of jail time due to unpaid jay-walking tickets.
Empowerment
Vandu's Employment Service
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 employs VANDU members to perform many of their services and its services range from preparing rooms for pest control to consulting services.
VANDU Empowerment donates 75% of its pre-tax profits to VANDU to help VANDU carry out its mission to improve the lives of people who use illicit drugs through user-based peer support and education.
Please get in touch with our Empowerment service here
August 2009
RAISE SHIT! Social Action Saving Lives
This story is unique: it is told from the point of view of drug users - those most affected by drug policy, political decisions and policing. It provides a montage of poetry, photos, early Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) meetings, journal entries from the Back Alley, the "unofficial" safe injection site, and excerpts from significant health and media reports.
The harms of prohibition, and resistance, hope, kindness, awakening and collective action are chronicled in these pages.
Download document about Raise Shit! book.
Publisher's website
VANDU hosted the Pacific Summit on Drug User Health at the Delta Hotel on Hastings Street. Bringing together some 100 user activists from all over B.C. and the Yukon for three days of discussion and workshops. Summit concluded with the formation of the BC/Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors.
A comprehensive report entitled Health Status of People Who Use Illicit Drugs in British Columbia at the Summit was presented at the Summit by VANDU. View Slide Show
Download a short review of the Pacific Summit on Drug User Health: Download PDF
Download "Evaluation Report: Pacific Summit on Drug User Health", 2009. Download PDF
Robb Johannes, Executive Director of VANDU, will be in studio on "From A Whisper to a Song" at 1:00 PM PST on Thursday, September 11, 2008 to discuss current issues in harm reduction and the Downtown Eastside. Tune in at 102.7 FM in Vancouver, or worldwide at www.coopradio.org.
VANDU will be have an information table at "Justice Rocks," a free one-day benefit concert put on by the Pivot Legal Society, on Saturday, August 30 from 12:00 noon to 8:00 p.m. at Stratchona Park (Venables and Raymur, Vancouver).
Members of VANDU will be appearing on "Melodies in Mind" at 8:30 PM PST on Tuesday, August 26, 2008 to discuss VANDU, its operations, and current issues in harm reduction and the Downtown Eastside. Tune in at 90.1 FM in Vancouver, or worldwide at www.cjsf.ca.
At 12:00 noon in Oppenheimer Park (Powell and Dunlevy, Vancouver), there will be a ceremonial launch of a memorial acknowledging those who have passed away in the Downtown Eastside, as well as an unveiling of a timeline highlighting VANDU's achievements since 1998.
The ceremony will be followed by guest speakers, including Bud Osborne, founding member of VANDU; Ann Livingston, Executive Program Director of VANDU; Libby Davies, New Democratic Member of Parliament for Vancouver East, and an awards ceremony acknowledging longstanding members of the VANDU community.
Food and refreshments will be served, barbecue-style -- as well as outdoor activities.
The outdoor event will be followed in the evening by:
Featuring performances by:
The Neins Circa, Adrienne Pierce, Ari Shine, Veda Hille,
Paint, and Jesse Matheson and His Midnight Snacks.
Saturday, July 19 @ The Railway Club
579 Dunsmuir Street, Vancouver
$10 admission at the door, 8:30 p.m. doors, 19+ with ID
THE NEINS CIRCA caught the attention of The New Pornographers’ Carl Newman who invited the group to support his solo North American tour in 2004, where they opened for Calexico and played legendary venues of the Troubadour in Los Angeles and the Bowery Ballroom in New York. Their second album, Sleeves and Wiggs reached #8 on the CBC Radio 3-30 countdown. In 2007, the Neins Circa signed on with Vancouver-based Copperspine Records.
ADRIENNE PIERCE recently interviewed herself and became her own manager. She was late for the interview but can overlook that since she had all the right answers. She has toured internationally with Jane Sibbery, Damien Rice, and Ray LaMontague, and has had songs appear on Grey’s Anatomy and Veronica Mars. Her most recent release, Faultline, was produced by Jeff Trott (Sherly Crow) and features members of R.E.M., Fiona Apple’s band, and Beck’s band. Her cover of Neil Young’s “Pocahantas” was recently released on Broken Tunes II: A Tribe to Neil Young, which also features 54-40, The Barenaked Ladies, Tom Cochrane, and Raine Maida.
ARI SHINE is a one man guitar pop crusade. Big Take Over calls him “A Paul Stanley/Rick Springfield for the millennium.” This is loud hip shakin’ guitar rock and roll from Los Angeles produced by Earle Mankey (Sparks, Concrete Blonde, Beach Boys, Three O’Clock, etc). Ari Shine co-wrote the Grand Prize Winner (Song Of The Year) at this year’s prestigious John Lennon Songwriting Contest, and has written and performed with Jennifer Finch (L7), Kari Krome (Runaways), Martyn Lenoble (Porno for Pyros), Todd Youth (Danzig), Victor Indrizzo (Beck), and co-wrote 6 songs on Australian buzz artist Kara Grangier’s record (including her duet with Amos Lee), featured in Starbucks stores across Australia. This past May, Ari created a sensation at the famous Cavern Club Liverpool, getting special praise from the BBC and gushing UK reviews for the new CD.
VEDA HILLE has been writing, recording, and touring Canada, the UK, and Europe since 1990, and has released an album roughly every 18 months since her 1994 debut album. She writes about the natural world, the trickiness of love, the constant threat of tragedy, and anything else that amazes her. She continues to make her own records, and does so in cahoots with Ape Records, run by XTC’s Andy Partridge. Veda is the in-house composer for Theatre Replacement and collaborates with them on at least one show per year. She has also been performing with the CBC Radio Orchestra.
PAINT makes music in the grand tradition of the finest storytellers, with infectious, pop-infused hooks, clever, thought-provoking narratives. Their debut release “Urban Folk Tales” was praised as “a truly unique first effort held together by frontman Robb Johannes’ strong vocals. He can sing in hushed tones one minute before switching to a full on swagger that would make James Brown proud” (Scene and Heard). The album reached the Top 10 on Canadian campus radio and was featured on UK label E3 Records’ Showcase International compilation after the band was voted fan favourite, beating out the competition by thousands of votes.
JESSE MATHESON AND HIS MIDNIGHT SNACKS - Jesse Matheson's new record Pleasure Pounds (Copperspine Records 2008), is so full of fun, food, sexual innuendo, and sexual food innuendo you're sure to be back for a second helping. Backed by Shawn Killaly on Drums and Lara Farcasan on keys, Jesse takes you on a funny and quirky romantic musical romp through topics such as crushes on women shopping at the grocery store, makin' out, and listing all 23 french words you know to try and get dates and last but not least - food! BYO Napkin.
