Crackdown Cited Media

We were working on an episode about the housing crisis during the pandemic. But a couple weeks ago, Crackdown lost another member of our editorial board: Dave Murray. 
We can’t all get together to mourn him right now, to remember him and tell stories. Like we did with Chereece last year. I know we’ll get to it eventually, when the quarantine lifts, but until then, we’ll do it here. 
Dave Murray was a veteran drug user activist. He was a mentor to the next generation of organizers like me. He’s pretty much the reason why there is a prescription heroin program in Vancouver today. And he was our friend. 
 
Dave was an intellectual - wIth taped up glasses and newspaper tucked under his arm. But he was also bold as hell. 
He helped us launch this podcast. In fact, Dave was there before we even had a name. He was a soft-spoken guy, and he made sure Crackdown got off on the right foot.
Safe journey home, Dave. Take care, buddy.
Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations. Our Editorial Board is: Samona MarshShelda KastorGreg FessJeff LoudenDean WilsonAl FowlerLaura Shaver
Chereece Keewatin, RiP Chereece...and
Dave Murray. Good-bye Dave.  
You can read obituaries by Travis Lupick and also by Guy Felicella, Dean Wilson and Matt Bonn.
Ann Livingston has created a Facebook page with lots of Dave’s speeches 
Thanks to Gordon Katic and Travis Lupick for tape of Dave gathered in 2017 for a documentary called The Heroin Clinic. 
All the links are on our webpage.
You can support us at Patreon.com/crackdownpod

The government has finally agreed to provide us with a safe, medical alternative to black market drugs. On Episode 15, we dig deep into the new policy and tell the story of advocacy that made this possible.
WORKS CITED 
BC Centre for Disease Control: Harm reduction information for people who use substances in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak.
BC Centre for Disease Control: Weekly overdose data, March 22-March 28, 2020
Canadian Association of People who Use Drugs. Safe Supply Concept Document. February 2019
CBC News: B.C. releases plan to provide safe supply of drugs during COVID-19 pandemic. March 26, 2020
Coronavirus Is Leading to Shortages of Fentanyl And Meth. Deborah Bonello. Vice.com. March 19, 2020 
COVID-19: Open letter from DTES frontline workers to Horgan, Dix, Henry, Daly, Stewart, and Darcy—we need more, now. By Concerned registered nurses and frontline workers of the DTES. Georgia Straight, March 31, 2020.
Fleming, T., Barker, A., Ivsins, A. et al. Stimulant safe supply: a potential opportunity to respond to the overdose epidemic. Harm Reduct J 17, 6 (2020). 
CREDITS
Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.Our Editorial Board is:Samona MarshShelda KastorGreg FessJeff LoudenDean WilsonDave MurrayAl FowlerLaura ShaverRIP Chereece Keewatin.
Crackdown’s senior producer is Sam Fenn. Our producers are Lisa Hale and Alexander Kim. With help from Polly Leger.
Our science advisor is Ryan McNeil. Assistant Professor & Director of Harm Reduction Research in the Yale School of Medicine.Garth Mullins is Crackdown’s host, writer and executive producer. You can follow him on twitter @garthmullins.Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, James Ash, Kai Paulson and Garth Mullins. Our theme song was written by Garth and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer.We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from you, our Patreon supporters. 
Stay safe. Keep six.

Governments are taking drastic measures to try to slow down the spread of #COVID-19 - declaring emergencies, shutting down businesses and sealing borders.  But what about drug users? We have been facing a deadly public health emergency for years, with no drastic measures taken. Will they forget us again this time? 
Since the first coronavirus case was confirmed in British Columbia, around 150 people have died from a contaminated drug supply. Four people have died from COVID-19. Now we face both crises at once. 
Many drug users in our community are middle aged. And the life can really put years on you. Many of us have COPD or are immunocompromised. The pandemic could cut through us like a scythe.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/34599640
Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.Our Editorial Board is:Samona MarshShelda KastorGreg FessJeff LoudenDean WilsonDave MurrayAl FowlerLaura ShaverAnd Chereece Keewatin. It’s been just over a year since we lost you. RiP Chereece. 
Crackdown’s senior producer is Sam Fenn. Our producers are Lisa Hale and Alexander Kim. This month we had production help from Alex de Boer and Polly Leger.
Our science advisor is Ryan McNeil. Assistant Professor & Director of Harm Reduction Research in the Yale School of Medicine.Garth Mullins is Crackdown’s host, writer and executive producer. You can follow him on twitter @garthmullins.Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, James Ash and Garth Mullins. Our theme song was written by Garth and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer.We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from you, our Patreon supporters.

You can't understand Canada's overdose crisis without knowing the truth about this country -  and that’s the story of colonization: a centuries-long effort to steal land and erase Indigenous peoples.
In April 2019, Garth and Thunder Bay podcast creator Ryan McMahon were chatting on the phone. Ryan said that some Indigenous communities are reticent about harm reduction and that Crackdown should look at that.
We've been talking about making this episode since our first editorial board meeting in 2018, when Chereece Keewatin, Shelda Kastor and Jeff Louden talked about how the overdose crisis affects them as Indigenous people. Since then Chereece died - and we blame racist drug war policies for that.
Shelda guided the work on this episode, mapping the connections between abstinence programs, the Red Road and Indigenous approaches harm reduction.
A full transcript of this episode will be available in a few days.

https://www.patreon.com/posts/32665947
Dean Wilson—a Crackdown editorial board member and  elder statesman of Vancouver's drug user movement—thinks 2019 might be his most disappointing year as an activist. “We’ve accomplished absolutely f*****g nothing, I’m incredibly depressed about it,” he recently told Garth Mullins. 
“2019, will be known to me as the year that nothing happened.” 
Dean’s right. We haven’t had a big win in a while. And 2019 feels a bit like a depressing blur. But it was also a year where we fought back. In the last Crackdown episode of the year, we tell four stories about surviving the drug war. Each story is one small moment--something that might otherwise be forgotten. Maybe these stories can tell us something about where we are now—and what we need to do in 2020.