A group representing parents who have lost loved ones to the toxic drug crisis were shut out of a drug policy conference in Richmond on Thursday.
The venue was changed from Vancouver to Richmond at the last minute after organizers claimed they had information that their forum would be disrupted.
A recording of a meeting of activists was leaked to organizers of the Prosper symposium, organized by the Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions.
Leslie McBain, co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm, the group that was shut out, said they wanted to listen and ask questions “respectfully” at the forum.
Shutting their group out was “counterproductive to what we’re all trying to do,” McBain said.
Katy Merrifield, spokesperson for the symposium, said the “intel” they received indicated there would be disruptions at the meeting, including “screaming” by Moms Stop the Harm.
“We would never do that, that’s not us,” McBain told the Richmond News.
McBain said the plan was to sit and listen, and if she heard something that she disagreed with, she’d ask questions such as “what are you doing for the people who are dying today?”
McBain said she’s happy the forum was taking place, but she couldn’t understand why the organizers were “afraid” of Moms Stop the Harm.
The Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions opposes decriminalization of drugs and providing people with substance-use disorders with a safe supply of drugs, policies that are supported by groups such as Moms Stop the Harm and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU).
Merrifield said the organization believes in “meeting people where they’re at but not leaving them there.”
She said they promote “recovery-oriented care with evidence-based strategies.”
The program materials, entitled “Proper: A Climate of Prevention, A Culture of Recovery,” include the biographies of the speakers, many of whom have been involved in drug policy for years. Academics and politicians, including BC United Leader Kevin Falcon and BC Conservative Leader John Rustad, were also part of the program.
VANDU was planning a protest at the forum had it been held in its original location.
In a media release, they claim the conference was "organized to promote the funnelling of public funds to enrich the for-profit recovery industry in British Columbia."
They said British Columbians should be "alarmed" that the U.S.-based Foundation for Drug Policy Solutions has "taken its grip on Canadian public health policy."
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