In this heartfelt and thoughtful talk, Christina shares her ideas about the destructive impact of the war on drugs and the mounting evidence that the opposite approach would be much more effective
Does providing clean needles to drug users enable destructive behavior or save lives? Lyndsay Hartman presents a compelling case for harm reduction services for drug users, through proven evidence and personal experience.
There is a stigma which many assign to drug addicts, even long after they have overcome their addiction. Tony discusses how his first time smoking marijuana led to his eventual drug addiction, homelessness, prison, and finally redemption.
Why do we still think that drug use is a law-enforcement issue? Making drugs illegal does nothing to stop people from using them, says public health expert Mark Tyndall. So, what might work?
Canada’s contaminated street drugs are forcing people to gamble with their lives. Every day, eleven Canadians lose that gamble: they overdose and die. Guy Felicella played that deadly game of Russian Roulette for twenty years while struggling with a heroin addiction in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside.
Author and neuroscience journalist Maia Szalavitz says that your brain doesn’t necessarily choose to become addicted to gambling. Rather, it just really wants to figure out a pattern.
Giving people perspective from a lived experience that no matter what the odds are against an individual struggling in addiction, people do get better. People do get their lives and families back and do become productive members of society. When we remove the stigma of addiction and harm reduction and look at the individual with compassion, amazing things can happen!
I spent 15 years in a severe heroin addiction. I was always employed & housed. Addiction is NOT JUST about homelessness, needles and back alleys. (Ok not a TED talk but I had to throw one from yours truly in).
Is the War on Drugs doing more harm than good? In a bold talk, drug policy reformist Ethan Nadelmann makes an impassioned plea to end the “backward, heartless, disastrous” movement to stamp out the drug trade.
The fentanyl overdose epidemic is only growing in British Columbia, Canada. With over 900 deaths in 2016 alone, the problem isn’t going away, and society isn’t doing enough to change the situation. Stephen Dass encourages individuals to stop thinking about “them” vs “us”, and to take preemptive steps to support youth with social and mental health services before they reach the point of desperation.
Daniel is a project & peer coordinator for the Langley Community Action Table and Overdose Response Project. He is a passionate public speaker who shares his story of addiction & recovery, advocates for drug policy change, and a greater understanding and compassion for those who use substances and suffer from addiction.
