Vancouver police have executed multiple search warrants investigating the operations of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF).
DULF is a Vancouver drug advocacy group that operated an illegal compassion club in hopes of reducing toxic drug deaths.
The group has publicly said it sells controlled substances such as heroin, cocaine and methamphetamines.
“We understand the magnitude of the ongoing overdose crisis and the impact drug toxicity deaths have in communities throughout the province,” said Insp. Phil Heard, Vancouver police’s organized crime section commanding officer.
“While DULF’s actions were intended to reduce the harms caused by toxic drugs, we have always warned that anyone who violates the Criminal Code or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act could face enforcement and criminal charges.
“This group has knowingly operated illegally in the Downtown Eastside and we have now taken action to stop it.”
In addition to searching DULF’s office, located at East Hastings and Columbia Street, investigators on Wednesday executed search warrants at two East Vancouver homes linked to the investigation.
Two adults have been arrested and criminal charges are being considered upon completion of the investigation, according to police.
“While we support progressive drug policy and believe harm reduction strategies reduce the number of lives lost due to drug toxicity, we are steadfast in our insistence that all strategies be fully compliant with the law,” Heard said.
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“Anyone who ignores the law or fails to obtain proper legal exemptions should expect to be the subject of enforcement action.”
It is unclear if the compassion club has been shut down. Global News has reached out to Vancouver police for more information.
For a year, the DULF has operated an illegal heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine compassion club and conducted a study.
The pilot study used 42 drug-using participants, giving them access to illicit drugs that have been tested and labelled to ensure participants know the “contents, potency and quality of the drugs.”
“Members of the compassion club are then able to come to a physical location and obtain this ‘community-regulated supply’ for up to 80 per cent cheaper than they would on the street,” DULF staff said in a social media post.
Over the year, DULF said there were 741 times a participant used drugs at its overdose prevention site, with zero overdoses on site.
After one year of collecting information, DULF said there have been:
- zero known deaths resulting from the substances provided by the club
- 32 per cent decrease in overdoses requiring naloxone in the entire study
- 68 per cent reduction in overdoses requiring naloxone in people who injected drugs
- 48 per cent reduction in the prevalence of police interactions per three-month period
- 50 per cent reduction in the prevalence of participant hospitalization per three-month period
- prevention of $100,643 of profit from going into the hands of organized crime
“With this pilot program we wanted to demonstrate what people who use drugs have known since this crisis began … (which is) access to a regulated, non-exploitative, and consistent supply of drugs saves lives, reduces crime, and improves the health of people who use drugs,” said Jeremy Kalicum, DULF’s co-founder.
“It is with profound frustration and unimaginable grief, that we ask for the government to act now and regulate the illicit market before more lives are lost.”
The advocacy group has urged the government to adopt the compassion club model and allow similar projects to operate within “high-needs communities” to prevent toxic drug overdose deaths.
The full study report can be at dulf.ca. The study is not peer-reviewed.
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