Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users

The paper outlines how Canadian drug laws and policies impact on the spread of HIV/AIDS and other diseases like hepatitis B and C. The author provides a brief description of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network and the Canadian AIDS Society before providing a summary of the results of a project that explored the legal and ethical issues raised by HIV/AIDS. A review of the literature suggests that drug use should be treated as a health issue, not a criminal activity. The paper also explores the issue of drug use in Canadian prisons and argues that Canadian drug laws and policies contribute to the spread of HIV among prisoners. The paper concludes by supporting the changes to Bill C-8 in the amended version proposed by the Canadian Drug Policy Foundation. An appendix is attached of a paper titled "Criminalization of Drug Use: Ineffective and Unethical" which further supports the claim that laws and policies should be revised because they are ineffective at reducing the harms associated with drug use.

The document includes a description of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) and the Downtown Eastside Youth Activities Society (DEYAS's) plan for the installation of hazardous material disposal containers to safely dispose of needles as well as the cleanup of medical and human waste in areas frequented by IDUs. The document also includes a number of maps illustrating the physical location of the hazmat disposal containers and the minutes from a meeting organized to coordinate needle pick-up activities in the downtown eastside.

The document is a press release prepared by Vancouver's Voices, an organization of Independent/COPE/Green council candidates in the Vancouver municipal election. The document challenges the accuracy of the NPA's ad campaign that claims crime rates have decreased in Vancouver by citing Stats-Canada figures on rising crime rates, and argues that a COPE/Green council will work to address the underlying issues that cause crime in Vancouver.

The document is a poster advertising the second meeting held by the DTES HIV/AIDS Action Plan Consumer Board and the Latino Support Group to take action to prevent harm from happening to people who drink rice wine.