The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users looks back on 20 years fighting for human rights
The drug-users union known as VANDU marks its twentieth anniversary at a time when B.C. struggles with an unprecedented epidemic of overdose deaths
The Georgia Straight (Canada)
Monday, September 5, 2017
Monday, September 5, 2017
In the late summer of 1997, a poster with a message aimed at drug users appeared on electrical poles around the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver. “Meeting in the park,” one read. “Discussion items: police conduct, violence and safety, ‘Is this your home?,’ washroom facilities, neighbourhood relations....Let’s talk about a community approach.” It was a revolutionary idea, that people who use drugs should gather and organize around shared challenges and interests. That meeting in the park was the formation of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU).
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