Crackdown podcast

🚨NEW EPISODE 🚨 With fascism on the rise around the world, we explore the relationship between Canada’s housing and policing policies and the risk of far right authoritarianism at home. crackdownpod.com/episodes/episo…

Stay tuned for a coming episode on the BC NDP’s overhaul of our tiny safe supply/dilly program (also known as “prescribed alternatives”)

It wasn't just drug users, social scientists, Dr. Henry, BC's Chief Coroner.. turns out Health Canada’s expert committee was also urging govt to expand safe supply. Instead of listening to science + lived experience, the feds (& BC NDP) decided to kill it. shorturl.at/VdxHc

This is why we need the police out of politics

“A revolutionary testament from the frontlines of the drug war” — I reviewed “Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War on Drugs” by @GarthMullins (Doubleday Canada, 2025) for @SpringMagCA: SpringMag.ca/crackdown-a-re… #BCpoli #HarmReduction #NSpoli #canlab #WarOnDrugs #cdnpoli #1u

It’s about getting poor people out of the entertainment district,” she said. “But there’s nowhere else for them to go.” @JeanSwanson_ vancouversun.com/opinion/column…

The Alberta govt wants drug users to know—you can get sober or get dead. Even though total abstinence does not work for most people, families are being forced to make a choice: lock your loved one up in treatment or leave them to face the dangers of an unregulated drug supply.

Huge thank you to Angie & Brandon from @4bHarmReduction. Crackdown isn't possible without the courage and vulnerability of our subjects who often share the hardest moments of their lives so that we can illustrate the injustice of the drug war. So much gratitude. 💜

Alberta is the involuntary treatment capital of Canada. On ep 54, we meet Angie & her son Brandon. When Brandon got wired as a teen, Angie had a difficult choice to make: should she force him to sober up? If she did, what would happen to their relationship?shorturl.at/RJLjH

I am very glad to hear the federal minister of health say that forced treatment does not work. Now all the provincial health ministers gotta listen. @crackdownpod will have an ep on this out in a few days. cfjctoday.com/2025/06/03/hea…

Watching ABC Vancouver types offer emotional condolences over the death of Trey Helten who spent his life helping this city's homeless & addicted—after the ABC mayor & council have done nothing but wreck the chances of those homeless & addicted—has been grotesque #vanpoli

Trey Helten spent a decade dedicating himself to harm reduction in Vancouver's DTES. He saved countless lives. Trey leaves behind a partner, a teenage son & an unborn child. If you can, please donate to ease the burden on his family. 💜 tinyurl.com/bp69svba

Trey Helten was nothing less than a hero. He saved hundreds of lives by reversing ODs, driving people to treatment & just being kind. Trey was a friend to Crackdown and appeared on the show twice. We'll never forget you, Trey. Rest in power. rb.gy/ztwctt

'Boundless care and compassion': Trey Helten was on a mission to help others in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside #dtes #harmreduction vancouversun.com/news/obituary-… via @VancouverSun

Smokey doing Smokey- RIP Trey come say hi! 144 E Hastings

My copy of @garthmullins’s memoir “Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting The War On Drugs” arrived yesterday. From the dedication I can tell I’m in store for something special. Garth was the first and only person who described dopesickness as I experienced it.

An April 14 rally marked the ninth anniversary of British Columbia declaring the overdose crisis a public health emergency. By @dustbobgod: filtermag.org/bc-enters-10th…

Instead of regulating the drug supply, the @bcndp is now offering involuntary treatment as an antidote to toxic drug death. So we keep fighting. Because the drug user liberation movement doesn't bend or shift to political trends. Safe supply now! Free DULF! End the drug war! ✊

Today @VANDUpeople, SUDU, @pivotlegal & more rallied to mark the 9th year of the OD crisis: +16,000 people murdered by govt inaction. Speakers demanded safe supply — now a taboo idea —delegitimized by right wing fear-mongering & abandoned by mainstream media and the @bcndp. 1/2

MEDIA RELEASE: Sean Orr, who won Saturday’s City Council by-election with 34,448 votes, is calling on Ken Sim and ABC to properly fund public libraries, restore all cutbacks in hours, and open all libraries seven days a week. #FightingForVancouver #vanpoli #EvictKenSim