Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users

The speech presented to the Mayor's Task Force on Children and Families in Victoria, B.C. (1990) focuses on empowerment through family support. The author provides a definition of family support programs along with examples of empowerment processes to outline a framework of empowerment. The author then applies the framework to a case study of 276 families in Syracuse, New York that examined family stresses and supports. By applying the framework to the case study the author highlights the accomplishments and limitations of the program designed to support families in empowering ways.

The document is a report produced as part of the process of developing an action plan to respond to the epidemic of HIV and other communicable diseases like hepatitis C associated with injection drug use in the lower mainland of British Columbia. The document includes details on the background and process of the study; a description of injection drug users (IDU); an inventory and evaluation of existing resources and treatment services for IDU in the lower mainland; and recommendations for future action.

The document is a list of over one hundred abstracts from the Harm Reduction Coalition 4th National Conference held in Seattle, Washington (2002). The abstracts include international perspectives on harm reduction and summarize presentations on topics related to hepatitis; HIV; homelessness; heroin; methadone maintenance; mental health; prison populations; transgender communities; and youth. The document also includes an alphabetical list of conference participants and contact information for the Harm Reduction Coalition.

The author discusses the political and social contexts of the work that the Prisoners' HIV/AIDS Support Action Network (PASAN) does and argues for a political understanding of the effects of marginalization on communities of drug users.