The Deadly Stigma of Addiction | The Fix

The Deadly Stigma of Addiction | The Fix Fantastic article hits the stigma nail right on the head. Fighting stigma is is one of the primary goals of drug user organizing.

Reality Check for Drug Users and Allies Legal Marijuana Will Not End The Drug War

     Legal marijuana will not end the drug war on users of other substances, not by a long shot. The conditions under which marijuana is defined as legal is also of extreme importance. Until every marijuana conviction currently on record in the U.S.A. is overturned, the prisoners released, and no further arrests are made, or property seized, it's not really legal here. When a marijuana user can face no penalty at all in one state and five years in prison in another for possession of one ounce of dried cannabis flowers there can be no question there is still a great deal of work to be done on behalf of the largest drug user group in america.
     One question that needs to be answered,  is the marijuana legalization movement in favor of the legalization of other substances such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine? Their public statements would indicate otherwise. Many times statements have been made that if law enforcement was no longer under pressure to arrest the ever abundant marijuana users they could then concentrate on users and distributors of other substances and that would be considered a benefit to society. By contrast, drug users of other substances who already face barbaric mandatory minimum sentencing, extreme stigmatization, and much less quality control over the substances distributed to them do not consider increased persecution by the criminal justice system to be of any benefit to them at all.
    If marijuana legalization really is to be a stepping stone on the path to ending the drug war then the effects of that legalization on users of other substances need to be considered now. Safe consumption of all drugs including nicotine and alcohol should be a public health priority no matter what is legal and what is not. Drug users and their allies are encouraged by further legalization efforts but see the need to continue to speak as a voice for the users of all substances not just marijuana.
   

What if all the doctors who used drugs told us how they did it?

The idea of developing safer modes of ingestion that drug users will use and appreciate for their own benefit seems to have stopped somewhere with crack cocaine pipes, methamphetamine pipes and intravenous syringes. Harm reduction organizations that distribute these items around the world are welcomed by drug users.  Given the health issues that persist for drug users even with brand new clean equipment we have begun to wonder if any funding is being spent on developing new methods of drug delivery? With drug user input? 

Start a Drug User Group In Your Town Today!

      Brothers and sisters, drug users, let this idea get into your head, let it swirl around until you too come to the conclusion that it is a possibility wherever groups of drug users can be found. Start by communicating with drug users you know personally, by asking them if they have ever questioned the reasons society at large gives them such a hard time for making independent decisions about what they choose to ingest. The truth is that the reasons for oppressing and stigmatizing drug users are invalid, inhumane, and criminal. When people can begin to accept that the great lie they have been told about themselves is untrue then the next question will be what can we do about it? The answer is organize, advocate for one another, promote your group, and take direct action when necessary.
    Find a place to hold a meeting once in awhile. Go to the places where drug users gather and hand out flyers about drug user activism and the time and place of the meeting. Seek allies at social service organizations that cater to drug users, including methadone clinics, needle exchanges, jails and rehabs if possible. Use social networking including the real time face to face kind. Show up at the meeting and see who else does. It might be lonely at first but eventually the group will attract a core group of drug users actively using or not who will be willing to work at changing the status quo.
       The rest should be left up to whats fits your individual group and it's circumstances. For example you may have good reason to keep your meetings discreet for members only if you live in a place that has laws against drug users congregating for any reason. As your group grows you will want to have some kind of organizing structure and division of responsibilities. Your groups goals may be very simple at first. Just providing a place where drug users can talk to each other without the shame and guilt machine of abstinence only groups breathing down their necks is a truly helpful and noble endeavor. Get the idea out there any way you can that the stigmatization, discrimination against, and incarceration of drug users is wrong for your community and wrong for humanity. Show the powers that be that we can be a force for good in our communities by promoting positive change in the lives of our fellow drug users.

Drug Consumption Room DOC

The Distribution of Naloxone is a Social Justice Action

When opiate drug users have access to naloxone they prevent overdose deaths in their own communities. The act of arming them with the means to save their own lives also has a profound effect on the way drug users see themselves . Needle exchanges (when available)  showed drug users that someone cared . The training of drug users to administer and distribute naloxone gave us the message that we were capable of, and expected to, take care of ourselves. The idea that we can become powerful positive actors in the drama called the streets puts multiple nails in the coffin of stigmatizing stereotypes.  The lie that drug users are only out for themselves is dead and will stay dead as we find  productive and creative ways to empower ourselves.

Marketing Demographics and Voting Blocs

Marketing Demographics and Voting Blocs
   Hello to all the drug users around the globe today from the west coast of the state
known as California, U.S.A., with a special shout out to our brothers and sisters in Iran and
Afghanistan your struggle to avoid execution has been noticed by us and the world media.
The think tank at D.U.R.A.N. has been pondering the issues facing the drug user empowerment
movement in an in depth manner and two important realizations came to mind. Perhaps these
concepts have all been discussed somewhere but these two points of leverage in society,
marketing demographics and voting blocs are too powerful not to utilize to their fullest
potential.

Marketing Demographics

We are already being marketed to as a group by ad agencies directly and not just the pharmaceutical
companies but the liquor advertisers, the tobacco advertisers etc. all cater to consumer
groups of drug users. Consumers can influence or even control markets if they are
organized. The marijuana market is driven by users demands for a more potent, and therefore
healthier, product, an equation that has proven successful for producers and consumers
especially in markets where medical marijuana is legal. This principle could apply to other
drugs as well if consumers are able to effectively make cooperative demands for higher
purity substances and even safer methods of ingestion.

Voting Blocs

Marijuana users have been an effective group of drug using voters for over 40 years in the
U.S.A. One of their main achievements has been to reduce but certainly not eliminate the
stigma society attaches to cannabis ingestion. The other magnificent achievement was that
in those states where it was legal they were able to create a collective system of
distribution and many more medical marijuana patients (who would be labeled and criminalised
for being drug users in any state where it is still illegal) were able to receive the
healthiest, high quality medication available.A system that was and is completely
implemented and activated by the medical marijuana patients themselves.

   Imagine if this level of organized political activity were to be realized by chronic
pain patients for example. There are plenty of good reasons for them to band together and
protest the draconian laws, false accusations of "med seeking" behavior,and pain contracts
they are subject to as a part of their treatment. If the pharmaceutical companies simply
acknowledged the huge numbers of users their opiate pain medications are being diverted to they
might change strategies and market products that are easily water soluble without binders
or fillers that need to be filtered out.

   The Drug User Rights Action Network is not suggesting however, that drug user groups
should organize under the banner of any one particular drug, substance, mode of ingestion
or experience. Our power in numbers, experience, and especially enthusiasm for engaging in
promoting the cause of drug user empowerment is finite at this time and it is time to cast
as wide a net as possible for drug users who can find the time and energy to contribute.
Other groups of oppressed peoples have gone before us and we can be inspired by the successful improvements they have made to their lives and communities as a result of realizing their power.