Founders of Vancouver club that sold tested illicit drugs file Charter challenge
Lawyers for the founders of Vancouver's Drug User Liberation Front say their clients are being wrongfully criminalized for operating a club that provided untainted drugs to people who would otherwise be at the mercy of a toxic and deadly illicit drug supply.
Lawyers Tim Dickson and Stephanie Dickson outlined a constitutional challenge of Canada's Controlled Drugs and Substances Act on Tuesday, filed in B.C. Supreme Court on behalf of Jeremy Kalicum and Erys Nix.
The pair had operated a "compassion club" that sold heroin, cocaine and methamphetamine bought on the dark web and tested for contaminants.
The club was raided by police in October last year, and the pair have since been charged with drug trafficking.
Their trial is set for October 2025, but they claim their Charter rights and the rights of users were violated when the club was shut and they were arrested.
"We want to demonstrate how deeply unfair and discriminatory it is to prevent drug users from saving lives, from saving the lives of the people they care about the most," Nix said during a news conference.
Their Charter challenge argues that denying compassion club members access to a predictable supply of drugs they depend on, while exposing them to the severe risks of the street supply is "grossly disproportionate" to any benefits of shutting down the club.
They say in their legal claim that preventing the initiative infringes on their right to liberty and the right to life and security of the person of the compassion club’s members.
The pair claim that people with serious addictions are compelled to turn to the toxic street supply for substances they depend on, making it discriminatory to shut down the club and a violation of the right to equality.
Nix said the only way to save lives is to see "some type of regulation of the illicit drug market."
"Organized crime thrives on this market and generates money from prohibition, and organized crime does not care about regulating the potency of drugs," Nix said.
The Charter application said they should not have been charged because the club's site had been given the authority by Vancouver Coastal Heath to collect, store and transport illicit drug samples for drug checking or analysis.
The operation and eventual arrest of the pair set off significant public sparring between the governing NDP and the Opposition BC United.
Tim Dickson said it was disappointing that there's been a "shift in the political discourse on drug policy in B.C. in recent months."
"But the advantage of the court case is that it's an opportunity to have these issues decided on the basis of evidence and of logic by an independent and impartial judge," he said. "It will be a very different process than the political debate that's been going on in recent months, which is more about sound bites than facts."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 15, 2024
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Live election results: Trump retakes the White House, defeats Harris by winning key swing states
AP has declared the battleground state of Michigan for Trump. That completes his sweep of the 'Blue Wall' states that surround the Great Lakes.
Trump wins the White House in a political comeback rooted in appeals to frustrated voters
Donald Trump was elected the 47th president of the United States on Wednesday, an extraordinary comeback for a former president who refused to accept defeat four years ago, sparked a violent insurrection at the U.S. Capitol, was convicted of felony charges and survived two assassination attempts.
Read the full transcript of Donald Trump's victory speech
The former U.S. president and now president-elect addressed a crowd of supporters at his campaign headquarters in West Palm Beach, Fla., shortly after 2:30 a.m. EST, Wednesday morning.
'Canada will be absolutely fine': Justin Trudeau, his ministers and Pierre Poilievre congratulate Donald Trump
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of his cabinet congratulated Donald Trump Wednesday morning on his second United States presidential election win, amid questions about how the federal government intends to navigate a second term.
4 ways in which Donald Trump's election was historic
Donald Trump's election victory was history-making in several respects, even as his defeat of U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris prevented other firsts. She would have been the nation's first Black and South Asian woman to be president.
Who won the popular vote? U.S. election vote totals from the past 40 years
Donald Trump won the U.S. presidency on Tuesday, and as of Wednesday morning, was also ahead in the popular vote. Historically, though, the candidate with the most votes hasn’t always won the contest.
'How to move to Canada' surges on Google as U.S. wakes up to Donald Trump win
U.S. search engine queries about moving to Canada shot up Wednesday in the wake of Donald Trump’s decisive win in the presidential election.
Kamala Harris made a historic dash for the White House. Here's why she fell short.
It was a moment that encapsulated one of the biggest challenges facing U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' campaign – which, in the end, proved insurmountable. A country crying out for change got a candidate who, at a crucial moment as more voters were tuning in, decided to soft-pedal the change she knew she represented.
Woman's killing by male partner in Nova Scotia all too familiar: researcher
As police investigate the killing of a 71-year-old woman in Nova Scotia by her male partner, the head of an Ontario research group on violence against women says the situation is all too familiar.