Hundreds march in support of safe supply following arrests of 2 Vancouver drug activists

published on November 3, 2023 by Darryl Greer in CBC News

More than 400 safe supply supporters gathered in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside Friday to protest the recent arrests of the founders of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), which had been distributing a safe supply of illegal drugs in an effort to prevent overdose deaths.

Vancouver police raided the group’s office and other addresses last week and arrested Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum, saying the organization had publicly admitted trafficking illegal drugs.

The group’s website says it provided 43 active participants up to 14 grams of substances that had been tested for safety — including cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine — each week, distributing a total of three kilograms of drugs “at cost.”

“The climate to harm reduction and safe supply has been getting increasingly hostile over the years,” said drug user activist and podcaster Garth Mullins on Friday as he walked with protesters down Hastings Street behind a banner calling for action on the toxic drug crisis.

Some protesters carried a cardboard coffin to represent the more than 13,000 people who have died of toxic drug poisonings since B.C. declared a public health emergency in 2016…