Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Backlash to the British Columbia's drug decriminalization pilot has led to renewed calls for criminalization and disruptions to vital health services in BC. People who use drugs and those who support them are sometimes being targeted by individuals or groups trying to control or punish drug use in their communities. These targeted actions may include violence, harassment, surveillance, online shaming, complaints to city officials, or organized opposition to harm reduction services. We refer to these actions as anti-drug use vigilantism. They can cause serious harms to people who use drugs-undermining access to health care, safety, housing, and harm reduction-and may also make it harder to implement life-saving public health and drug policy reforms. This project will bring together researchers, community organizations, and people with lived/living experience of drug use to better understand anti-drug use vigilantism in BC. Together, we will explore examples of this issue and ask: What does anti-drug use vigilantism look like? Where and how does it happen? And what can be done about it? Our work will unfold in three stages. First, we will review research literature, media stories, legal cases, and community-based reports to understand how this issue is currently understood and experienced. Second, we will host meetings with community partners, frontline workers, and people with lived/living experience to share knowledge and develop a clear, accessible definition and early framework for understanding this as a public health issue. Third, we will identify further knowledge gaps, research needs, and opportunities for policy and practice engagement. This will inform the development of future research and knowledge-sharing activities. This work is grounded in the belief that actions motivated by stigma, fear, and punishment directed at people who use drugs are public health issues-and that recognizing and naming these harms is a critical step in preventing them.