Articles of Kris C

Addiction

The Debt Behind the Deal

A supplier can offer credit, drugs and a way to earn, then demand repayment under threat. Published Downtown Eastside accounts show what keeps a worker tied to that arrangement. They also show what it can cost to leave.

Community

The Downtown Eastside’s Right to an Ordinary Life

Progress in the Downtown Eastside can coexist with an intolerable ordinary day. Compassion has to reach beyond the next emergency, to the people needing care and the neighbours trying to live and work beside them.

Policy

Vancouver’s Drug Vote Demands an Answer

Vancouver elected a new council while backing stronger public drug-use laws and a request for secure care. For the Downtown Eastside, the question is how the new government will act on both results.

Policy

How Diverted Opioids Are Flooding British Columbia’s Streets

British Columbia’s opioid crisis has entered a new and complex phase, with recent investigations revealing that a significant portion of prescribed opioids intended for ...

Addiction

How Drug Checking is Reducing Overdose Deaths in BC

Drug checking services are a frontline defence against fatal overdoses in British Columbia. With Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside at the epicentre of the crisis, these ...

Policy

Canada’s Cannabis Industry Six Years After Legalization

Six years after legalization, Canada’s cannabis market faces high taxes, strict regulations, and ongoing competition from the illicit market. In 2018, Canada became the ...

Policy

Can Alberta’s Recovery Model Solve BC’s Opioid Crisis?

British Columbia, once a trailblazer in harm reduction and addressing the opioid crisis, faces unrelenting challenges in reducing overdose deaths and mitigating urban disorder. ...

Addiction

British Columbia Urged to Improve Data on Supervised Consumption Sites

Recent developments in Ontario have reignited the conversation around supervised consumption sites, compelling British Columbia to reassess its approach. While Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside is ...

Addiction

How Naloxone Works and Why It’s Essential for Canada’s Opioid Crisis

Canada’s opioid crisis has escalated to a public health emergency over the past decade, with overdose deaths reaching alarming levels. In the past eight ...

Addiction

Are Overdose Prevention Sites Making a Difference in British Columbia?

In 2016, British Columbia faced an unprecedented public health emergency. The opioid crisis, driven by an increasingly toxic drug supply, was claiming lives at ...

Community

The Downtown Eastside Phenomenon Where a Neighbourhood Becomes a Metaphor

Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside has long symbolized the complexities of urban inequality, its streets reflecting a deep convergence of poverty, addiction, and systemic neglect. Once ...

Order

Reclaiming Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside for a Future of Order and Equity

In Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, visible disorder has become the defining feature of public spaces. Encampments, open drug use, and vandalized properties paint a picture ...

Healthcare

Hydromorphone’s Role in BC Evolves Beyond Its Intended Purpose

British Columbia’s response to its deadly overdose epidemic has been nothing short of revolutionary. Programs like MySafe in Downtown Eastside and tablet injectable opioid ...

Policy

How BC’s 2.5-Gram Decriminalization Rule Shapes the Overdose Crisis

British Columbia’s groundbreaking drug decriminalization policy is rewriting the rules of harm reduction, but a closer look reveals a complex reality where the interplay ...

Community

Science or Activism? The Ethical Maze of Research in Downtown Eastside

In Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, one of Canada’s most heavily studied yet persistently misunderstood communities, the intersection of research, ethics, and activism raises difficult questions. ...

Addiction

Nitazenes Poised to Eclipse Fentanyl in Canada’s Opioid Crisis

As Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside struggles with the devastating toll of fentanyl, a new and potentially deadlier class of synthetic opioids—nitazenes—is making its way into ...

Addiction

Harm Reduction Paradox of Downtown Eastside Vancouver

Nestled within Vancouver’s glittering skyline is the Downtown Eastside, a neighbourhood teetering between compassion and catastrophe, where harm reduction policies have sparked as much ...

Addiction

Is Safer Supply a Form of Harm Reduction or a Cause of Addiction?

The notion of safer supply, once seen as a beacon of hope in Canada’s battle against the opioid crisis, is now sparking widespread debate. ...

Healthcare

Canadian Healthcare Gaps for Survivors of Non-Fatal Overdoses

For years, Canada has grappled with a devastating overdose crisis, with thousands of people succumbing to the lethal effects of toxic drugs, particularly fentanyl. ...

Addiction

The Harm Reduction Experiment Hits a Wall in British Columbia

The nation stands at a crossroads as escalating overdose deaths and public disorder expose the shortcomings of progressive drug policies. What was once considered ...

Addiction

Is BC’s Drug Decriminalization Failing to Deliver Results?

British Columbia has long been grappling with a deadly overdose epidemic driven by toxic, unregulated street drugs. Since 2016, more than 14,000 lives have ...

Addiction

DULF’s Radical Experiment in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside

In the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES), a neighbourhood plagued by addiction, a bold experiment unfolded. The Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) emerged ...

Addiction

Using Fentanyl Patches to Address Vancouver’s Overdose Epidemic

The opioid crisis continues to claim lives across North America, and British Columbia stands on the frontlines of this public health emergency. A key ...

Policy

BC Drug Policy: An Alternative Vision Amid Controversy

As British Columbia approaches a provincial election, the BC Conservatives have drawn attention with their approach to addressing the drug crisis, particularly in Vancouver’s ...