UPCOMING STIMULUS 2018: DRUGS, POLICY AND PRACTICE IN CANADA
Over three days, October 3 – 5, 2018, advocates and those inspired to create new approaches to drugs will be together in Edmonton, AB. This has been a CDPC vision for a long time. We are extremely excited to be a key organizer along with our partners.
The conference will include a variety of activities including, workshops, plenaries, panels, oral presentations, photography, poster presentations, spoken word, art showings, book readings, community tours, plus a film festival.
The conference is filling up fast and our full program will be up on the website in a couple of days. There will be a wide variety of sessions including an abstract driven track – thanks to all who submitted incredibly interesting abstracts. There will be five plenary sessions, one looking at the state of drug policy in Canada today, a people with lived experience plenary, a plenary highlighting those who are pushing the boundaries of innovation, a discussion on the impact of cannabis regulation on the broader drug policy picture, and a ‘where to from here?’ session to close the conference.
We’ll have a film festival running throughout the conference, a public event staged by MomsStopTheHarm will bring the community of Edmonton into the conference to engage an amazing group of family leaders from across the country and a coalition of drug checking organizations will be putting on a workshop on the latest efforts in Canada to implement these services.
We’ll keep you updated on the latest developments over the next few weeks.
While this is occurring, we are also engaging deeply with politicians and community to see that our efforts come to fruition. We are in need of financial support to pursue such activities. You can make a one-time donation, or set up a monthly donation to us, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. We will be cheering in our office if you do.
Stimulus 2018: Drugs, Policy and Practice in Canada
October 3-5, 2018
Shaw Conference Centre
9797 Jasper Avenue
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
Join us as work to end the unprecedented overdose crisis and churning policy challenges in Canada. Register here
Twitter and Facebook: @stimulus2018
Conference organizing partners: Alberta’s harm reduction organizations, Alberta Advocates Who Educate and Advocate Responsibly (AAWEAR), Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs (CAPUD), Canadian AIDS Society, Association Québécoise des Centres D’intervention en Dépendance (AQPSUD), Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network
If you are an individual or business interested in sponsoring this event, please visit the sponsorship page. If you have questions regarding the conference, please direct them here.
PAST EVENTS
The Well has been Poisoned: A Supply Side Public Health Approach to Overdose Prevention
Thursday April 26th, 2018
09:30 – 12:00
Westin Bayshore
Vancouver, BC
Open to both CAHR 2018 participants and the general public. Pre-registration is not required.
Download Event Poster
This event will consider options for mounting a robust public health approach to overdose prevention focusing on potential supply side interventions that could be implemented. Participants will learn about efforts to date in BC to stem the overdose crisis and engage in discussion on new innovations that are being or should be considered.
Annelies Becu – Project Manager, Overdose Emergency Response Centre: Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions
Mark Tyndall – Executive Director, BC Centre for Disease Control
Donald MacPherson – Executive Director, Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
Karen Ward – Artist and Drug User
Jordan Westfall – President, Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs
Brought to you by: BC Centre for Disease Control, Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs and the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
This event is located at:
Salon 3, Stanley Park Ballroom (Second Floor)
Westin Bayshore Vancouver
1601 Bayshore Drive
Vancouver, BC
For CAHR conference details click here.
November 14th, 2016
Ottawa, ON
7:00 – 9:00 pm, Doors at 6:30 pm
Admission is free
Canada is the first G7 country committed to ending cannabis prohibition, announcing at the United Nations that legislation will be introduced in the spring of 2017.
Join us and Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network, with guests from the UK, US, Jamaica, Mexico and the Netherlands to explore cannabis policy reform around the world and the challenges posed by international drug treaties for countries wishing to regulate cannabis.
Hosted by Donald MacPherson of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and Richard Elliott of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.Expert Guests:
Downloadable Poster for Cannabis: Canada in the Global Context
• David Bewley-Taylor, UK, Global Drug Policy Observatory
• Damon Barnett, UK, International Centre on Human Rights and Drug Policy
• Tom Blickman, Netherlands, Transitional Institute
• Kathy-Ann Brown, Jamaica, Deputy Solicitor General & Director International Affairs
• Lisa Sanchez, Mexico, Mexico United Crimes Transform Drug Policy Foundation
• John Walsh, US, Washington Office on Latin America
Located at the University of Ottawa in the Alex Trebek Alumni Hall, Johnson Hall 116
This is a critical time in Canada for the development of a comprehensive drug policy based in science, public health and human rights. It is also an important moment in International drug policy. The CAHR session will consider the outcomes of the UN General Assemble Special Session (UNGASS) on Drugs that will have just taken place in New York April 19 – 21, 2016. The UNGASS will set in motion a process to review the global response to drugs over the next three years 2016 – 2019.
This process will culminate in 2019 when UN Member States come together to agree on the focus for the global response to drugs over the decade 2019 – 2029. With a new federal government that is interested in innovation and new approaches to drugs there is an opportunity to accelerate the development of a comprehensive health and human rights response to drugs in Canada and to provide much needed leadership in the upcoming global discussions that may lead to a new approach to drugs within the UN system.
The session will explore 1. Canada’s role in reforming the international drug control system, 2. Building a comprehensive health and human rights approach with a focus on decriminalization and regulation of drugs.
Objectives:
1. Learn about the outcomes of the UNGASS meeting that takes place April 19 – 21, 2016.
2. Explore two components of a public health and human rights approach to drugs – decriminalization and regulation of drugs.
Resilience, Risk & Retrospect: A reflection on 20 years of youth drug prevention
February 11, 2015
5:00 – 7:00 PM
Room 2270 Simon Fraser University
515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC
In this presentation of historical, evaluation, policy and practitioner retrospectives, Brown advances a modern, practical and evidence-based approach to preventing and reducing harm from drug use by building more resilient children and young people.
Joel H. Brown PhD., M.S.W.
Executive Director
Center for Educational Research and Development
Berkeley, CA
SCREENING OF BEVEL UP
“Bevel Up” (2008) is a compelling, award-winning documentary that chronicles the work of the BCCDC street nurses as they provide compassionate, effective – and non-judgmental – health care to men and women in Vancouver’s inner city.
Harm reduction is a cornerstone of this “best nursing practice” It is evident in the care provided for people who are most vulnerable, often stigmatized and face multiple barriers in accessing health care because of drug use, sex work, homelessness, mental health issues, racism, poverty. Nettie Wild’s documentary continues to be powerfully relevant to issues facing people who use drugs today.
The documentary will be followed by a free panel event.
December 9, 2015 at 7 PM
Simon Fraser University Room 7000 – Harbour Centre
515 West Hastings St., Vancouver
