Walking the walk - #StimulusConnect

Across Canada there is growing interest in ensuring that the principle of “Nothing About Us Without Us” is not only honoured, but truly respected. Facilitating meaningful inclusion of people who use drugs by offering attendance alone is a fail. Rather, people who use drugs must be stakeholders with equal standing in all aspects of implementing conferences and events. But how do you do that effectively?

Background: Stimulus Connect is a program of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC). CDPC partners with the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs (CAPUD), Association des intervenants en dépendance du Québec (AIDQ) and other members of their national planning committee.

IMPORTANT: Please add stimulus@drugpolicy.ca to your safe sender list. Your safe sender list ensures that the email with your zoom link is not blocked by your spam filter. You will receive the link to this zoom event the evening before or the morning of November 18, 2020.

Register here for the event

In preparation we gathered a few resources, documents and media articles that you may be find helpful.

Information on Stimulus 2018: Drugs, Policy and Practice

1. Video: Stimulus 2018: Drugs, Policy and Practice in Canada conference video, 9 minutes
2. Video: Stimulus 2018 Highlights, 2.48 minutes
3. Journal Article: Supporting the full participation of people who use drugs in policy fora: Provision of a temporary, conference-based overdose prevention site, October 2020
4. Call to Action: Canada-wide coalition calls for end to the toxic drug supply and decriminalization of possession of currently illegal drugs, Stimulus Conference October 3, 2019
5. YEG YEG Drug Guide Fall 2018 Final
6. Report: Stimulus 2018: Drugs, Policy and Practice in Canada Final Report
7. Report: Stimulus 2018: Drugs, Policy and Practice Evaluation Report

Other Documents

1. Journal Article: Mobilizing drug policy activism: conferences, convergence spaces and ephemeral fixtures in social movement mobilization, 2015
2. Journal Article: Engaging people who use drugs in policy and program development: A review of the literature, 2012
3. Journal Article: Coexisting or conjoined: The growth of the international drug users’ movement through participation with International Harm Reduction Association Conferences, 2010
4. CRISM PWLE National Working Group “Having a voice and saving lives” A survey by and for people who use drugs and work in harm reduction.
5. Resource: Harm Reduction Services: Recommendations for Overdose Prevention at Meetings and Events, 2019