Group Pushes for ‘Compassion Club Model’ To Address Surge of Deaths From Toxic Drug Supply

published on June 14, 2022 in The Good Men Project

“Safe supply!” “Or we die!” “Safe supply!” “Or we die!”

Eris Nyx leads a call and response at the final stop in a protest march through Vancouver’s downtown eastside. Behind her, volunteers fire up barbecue grills outside a venue where a local band begins to set up – an almost celebratory end to a demonstration weighted with grief.

The group of about 150 people, including several peer advocacy groups, wound through the neighbourhood on April 14, marking six years since the B.C. government first declared the overdose crisis a public health emergency.

Over the past year, the province has touted several policy changes aimed at addressing the crisis, such as additional funding for existing federal safe supply projects and authorizing nurses to prescribe addiction treatment medications. But deaths from drug-related poisoning continue to surge…