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The (Drug) War Stops Here!

by murray bush - flux photo

Bud Osborn`s powerful poetry
The (Drug) War Stops Here!
The (Drug) War Stops Here!
The (Drug) War Stops Here!
The (Drug) War Stops Here!
Dialogue circle
Dialogue circle
Deboarah Peterson Small (centre)
Theatre Circle
Dialogue circle
Ann Livingston answers questions
The (Drug) War Stops Here!

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE - More than 300 people came together today for a community dialogue on  ending drug prohibition.

The tent event in Oppenheimer Park featured poet Bud Osborn and guest speakers Susan Boyd, Ann Livingston and Deboarah Peterson Small speaking on “Mirroring our Vision of a Post-Prohibition World”.

Following the speeches the community members split up into dialogue circles to plan strategy for how to "open space for popular education and dialogue around prohibition and build momentum toward strategies for social change." The dialogues focused on the impact of the drug War on women, communities of colour, and indigenous people. the drug war on the ground in the Downtown Eastside and a theatre workshop.

The organizers held the event  because "It’s time to move beyond prohibition, and towards a framework that recognizes the desire for altered states of consciousness as a normal part of human behaviour, that develops drug policy based on public health and social justice, and that begins to address the social roots of addiction. We need to set drug use within the framework of collective self-determination and social justice not punishment and exclusion."

The War Stops Here was hosted  by the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU),  Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society, the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition and the End Prohibition Project. 

 

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Comments

Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for sharing.

I would like to learn more,

 and the information really helps.

 

"If people are using drugs despite the negative consequences,

what makes the drug so important in their lives?

It must do something,

it must do something essential other wise they wouldn't do it.

So if we are going to understand addiction,

we first have to understand what is it the person gets out of it.

It is clear for all to see what the damage is,

but what is the good?

What is the short term benefit that the addict is looking for?..."-Dr.Gabor Mate

 

"... the first question in dealing with addiction is always,

not why the addiction,

why the  pain? -Dr. Gabor Mate

 

(Both quotes by Dr.Gabor Mate are from the video link below)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BpHiFqXCYKc

 

 

 

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