Wednesday 30th August 2023, Online. Youth RISE was invited by St. John’s Ambulance Canada who coordinates The Accidental Drug Poisoning Crisis Community of Practice (ADPC–CoP) program, to present about the work we do, drug policies and youth-friendly harm reduction in countries around the world. The ADPC-COP usually has a Canadian focus and we were invited to bring attention to the impact of the War on Drugs on young people, young people who use drugs (YPWUD) access to harm reduction services, and what youth friendly harm reduction means from outside of Canada. Youth RISE’s Executive Director, Ruby Lawlor, Ana Ubilava from Georgia, Dinah Kate Macmillan from Italy, and João Barbosa from Brazil (living in Canada) presented during this session.
St. John’s Ambulance Canada coordinates The Accidental Drug Poisoning Crisis Community of Practice (ADPC–CoP) program, funded by Health Canada’s Substance Use and Addictions Program (SUAP). The ADPC-CoP is a Canadian national initiative with the goal to connect frontline workers, organizations, agencies, and people with lived and living experience to enable them to discuss and share ideas, challenges, and knowledge of current drug trends and practices in a safe space. During these CoPs, participants are able to learn and share resources with one another and to collectively devise a community solution. These CoPs take place every 3 months, and primarily are attended by people living in Canada, although they are open to people outside of Canada, and the recordings of these sessions can be found recorded here.
Ruby opened the CoP by explaining about Youth RISE, who we are, our mission and vision, emphasising our focus on full spectrum harm reduction and the significant impact of our work..
João then presented about young people who use drugs and youth-friendly harm reduction services focused in the Canadian context. He talked about drug alerts and drug consumption trends in Canada, as well as services offered to youth in the province of Quebec. João also presented some challenges and limitations of these services, and detailed what harm reduction services should do to ensure they are youth-friendly.
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Dinah presented about the political situation in Italy, highlighting the dangerous moment of repression and prohibitionism that Italy is facing, and how harm reduction is implemented. Then, she gave an overview of the impact of the war on drugs on YPWUD and what kind of challenges and negative impacts young people who use drugs can face. She finished by presenting the projects that are present and the difficulties they face in accessing funding.
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Ana spoke about the current political and social picture in the Caucasian region and specifically in Georgia and how young people suffer from harsh drug policies and selective justice. She also highlighted the lack of services and government’s indifference towards the actual problems that young people who use drugs face.
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Talking with Joao, Ana, and Dinah after the event, they shared that they learned a lot from each others presentations about the current situation in Canada, Italy and Georgia. Dinah shared that this exchange of knowledge and experiences is a fundamental aspect of the enriching learning process she experiences as a member of Youth RISE. Ana elaborated that her most important takeaway from participating in this session was how stereotypes and stigma faced by young people who use drugs are more or less the same nevertheless the cultural and geographical differences between different countries. Therefore emphasising how important it is for us to share our own experiences with each other.
Taking part in this CoP session was an incredible experience and opportunity. Highlighting the importance of providing harm reduction services that are robust, accessible and tailored to young people is rooted in Youth RISE’s mission, as is sharing the experiences of young people around the world. This opportunity allowed Youth RISE members to share their realities, the impact of the War on Drugs in their country’s context, and the harm reduction landscape to a new audience of primarily Canadian counterparts. Bringing the global view of the impact of the War on Drugs, particularly through the lens of young people, bolsters and strengthens the movement of drug policy reform and harm reduction advocacy. Together from all corners of the world, we will end the War on Drugs.