WILD Collaborative Harm Reduction Services

At the heart of Canada’s overdose crisis are people with lived and living experience with substance use who have the clearest understanding of the systemic flaw...s inherent in our drug policies, along with the devastating human toll wrought by them. Angel Gates is one of the many resilient community members whose invaluable insight must guide and inform new policies if they are to have any positive impact on the lived realities of communities that are most deeply affected. www.gettingtotomorrow.ca #GettingToTomorrow - - - - Au cœur de la crise des surdoses au Canada se trouvent des personnes qui ont vécu et vivent l’expérience de la consommation de drogues et qui ont la compréhension la plus claire des lacunes systémiques inhérentes à nos politiques sur les drogues ainsi que du bilan humain dévastateur qui découle de celles-ci. Angel Gates fait partie des nombreux membres de communautés qui font preuve de résilience et dont la précieuse perspective doit guider et éclairer les nouvelles politiques afin qu’elles aient des effets positifs sur les réalités que vivent les communautés les plus profondément touchées. #AllerDeLavant See more

Special interest groups and media are demanding that the government start giving free narcotics to people struggling with addictions. Alberta’s government has t...aken a different approach: a huge expansion of detox and treatment beds, plus support for lifetime recovery. Here is a public letter from the organizations who actually help people escape the destructive trap of addiction. If it was a letter attacking our government for opposing the NDP’s free-drug agenda, it would probably be front page news. But you almost certainly won’t read about it in the media, because it endorses Alberta’s approach of compassionately expanding access to detox, treatment, and lifetime recovery programs

Island Kidz and Shambawhat? Demystifying Drug Checking #2 - A Brief History Last week, for our very first post of a 10 post series debunking myths and demystif...ying drug checking, we provided a brief overview of what drug checking is. This week, we're giving you a very brief history of community drug checking and it involves a blast to the past for some of you Island folk! It is generally suggested that as a harm reduction and community based service, Drug Checking began in the early 1990s with the creation of the Drug Information and Monitoring System (DIMS) in the Netherlands. DIMS was created as a service in 1992 to offer drug analysis for people who use drugs, particularly in the nightlife scene. In the 90s, drug checking service popped up across Europe in Spain, Austria, France Belgium and more. Now, despite challenges and ongoing tensions, drug checking services exist in 20+ countries across the world! In North America, drug checking has its roots in the mid - late 90s Rave scene. It is no secret that ravers like to take care of each other (P.L.U.R), so there is no wonder that groups like Dancesafe, Erowid Center, and Ankors Education are some of the pioneers of drug checking in North America, providing important harm reduction services. From reagent kit testing, to lab analysis, drug checking has been around in North America for over 20 years. ANKORS, for example, has been keeping it real and offering one of the most well-known and longest running festival drug checking services at Shambhala Music Festival since 2003. These days, in response to the ongoing harms of criminalization and prohibition, drug checking is offered in a variety of settings, from raves and parties, to community spaces and overdose prevention rooms. Since we are a service operating in Victoria BC, we thought it would be important to give a special mention to the local pioneers of drug checking on Vancouver Island: The Island Kidz, who offered critical harm reduction supplies and services in the early days of Victoria's rave scene. Along with other groups across Canada like TRIP Project, theTeknoCollective, Calgary PartySafe and many many more, the Island Kidz set the foundations for drug checking and community care. We hope to keep their vibe alive! Want to learn more about what drug checking is and where you can access it? Check out our previous post or visit substance.uvic.ca Links: Island Kidz !!!!!!!!! https://web.archive.org//200109/http://www.islandkidz.org/ Dancesafe: https://dancesafe.org/ Ankors Education West https://ankors.bc.ca/ Shambhala Music Festival https://shambhalamusicfestival.com/ TRIP Project http://tripproject.ca/ Erowid Center https://www.erowid.org/ Calgary PartySafe Karmik Karmik Victoria WILD Collaborative Harm Reduction Services Drug Checking: An Approachj To Chemical Anarchy https://erowid.org/psychoac/testing/testing_article3.shtml [Image Description: A vintage photo of 3 people sitting at a table with a banner in the front that says 'Island Kidz, Keeping the Vibe Alive'. There are flyers on the table, a small tree with kandi bracelets and a backdrop of party lights.]

To the mom trying to navigate life without her child. The wife, pregnant with her first, left to carry out her responsibilities alone. The family desperately tr...ying to save a son who has spun so far down this rabbit hole labeled addiction. And finally, the sister who took her baby brother home in a box with a green velvet bag this week. These are the stories of heartache I’ve listened to in the last 5 days. Hour long phone calls. Substance use disorder. Addiction. Recreational drug use. Dependency. Doesn’t matter what you call it there is only one word that suitably describes it. Hell. Overdose is out of control in this country and in our province. Yes - Mr. Reiter, we need to do better. Please please ask your candidate at the door what their plan is for the underfunded and or archaic ways we manage mental health and addiction. Time to sell the cart put the horse out to pasture. We are tired of burying our kids.

The hidden story of addiction.

Save our children.

Meeting people where they are at with open arms and no judgement