Crackdown podcast

The drug war, covered by drug users as war correspondents 💉💜 Produced by @garthmullins, @samadeus & @alexmdeboer.

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

🚨NEW EPISODE 🚨

With fascism on the rise around the world, we explore the relationship between Canada’s housing and policing policies and the risk of far right authoritarianism at home.

https://t.co/52qNDgKe4n

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

🚨 Oh my God we're back again! 🚨

Sam and Garth discuss Elanore Sturko, Vaughn Palmer and Tristin Hopper’s claims that fewer people died from fatal ODs in Canada in 2025 because BC abandoned harm reduction. Are they right?

(No they're not).

https://t.co/DieTaJnX7w

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

Stay tuned for a coming episode on the BC NDP’s overhaul of our tiny safe supply/dilly program (also known as “prescribed alternatives”)

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

It wasn't just drug users, social scientists, Dr. Henry, BC's Chief Coroner.. turns out Health Canada’s expert committee was also urging govt to expand safe supply. Instead of listening to science + lived experience, the feds (& BC NDP) decided to kill it. https://t.co/mjbn5TMnJI

[SEAN ORR @seanorr]

This is why we need the police out of politics

[Tony Tracy @Tony_Tracy]

“A revolutionary testament from the frontlines of the drug war” — I reviewed “Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War on Drugs” by @GarthMullins (Doubleday Canada, 2025) for @SpringMagCA:

https://t.co/VzA9ppzrdY

#BCpoli #HarmReduction #NSpoli #canlab #WarOnDrugs #cdnpoli #1u

[Sarah Blyth - Gerszak @sarahblyth]

It’s about getting poor people out of the entertainment district,” she said. “But there’s nowhere else for them to go.” @JeanSwanson_ https://t.co/FZnkzuwLK4

[Alex de Boer @alexmdeboer]

The Alberta govt wants drug users to know—you can get sober or get dead.
Even though total abstinence does not work for most people, families are being forced to make a choice: lock your loved one up in treatment or leave them to face the dangers of an unregulated drug supply.

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

Huge thank you to Angie & Brandon from @4bHarmReduction. Crackdown isn't possible without the courage and vulnerability of our subjects who often share the hardest moments of their lives so that we can illustrate the injustice of the drug war. So much gratitude. 💜

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

Alberta is the involuntary treatment capital of Canada. On ep 54, we meet Angie & her son Brandon. When Brandon got wired as a teen, Angie had a difficult choice to make: should she force him to sober up? If she did, what would happen to their relationship?https://t.co/G1OZHzcd10

[Garth Mullins @garthmullins]

I am very glad to hear the federal minister of health say that forced treatment does not work. Now all the provincial health ministers gotta listen. @crackdownpod will have an ep on this out in a few days. https://t.co/B5kAKPY4dP

[Lindsay Brown @Lidsville]

Watching ABC Vancouver types offer emotional condolences over the death of Trey Helten who spent his life helping this city's homeless & addicted—after the ABC mayor & council have done nothing but wreck the chances of those homeless & addicted—has been grotesque #vanpoli

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

Trey Helten spent a decade dedicating himself to harm reduction in Vancouver's DTES. He saved countless lives.
Trey leaves behind a partner, a teenage son & an unborn child. If you can, please donate to ease the burden on his family. 💜 https://t.co/6TBQAZFpPb

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

Trey Helten was nothing less than a hero. He saved hundreds of lives by reversing ODs, driving people to treatment & just being kind. Trey was a friend to Crackdown and appeared on the show twice. We'll never forget you, Trey. Rest in power. https://t.co/z2o805vjjM

[Insiteful Vancouver @InsiteVan]

'Boundless care and compassion': Trey Helten was on a mission to help others in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside #dtes #harmreduction
https://t.co/5hWqWBl4nq via @VancouverSun

[Sarah Blyth - Gerszak @sarahblyth]

Smokey doing Smokey- RIP Trey come say hi! 144 E Hastings

[Filter | harm reduction journalism @Filtermag_org]

An April 14 rally marked the ninth anniversary of British Columbia declaring the overdose crisis a public health emergency.

By @dustbobgod:
https://t.co/iitV4f6cZE

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

Instead of regulating the drug supply, the @bcndp is now offering involuntary treatment as an antidote to toxic drug death.
So we keep fighting. Because the drug user liberation movement doesn't bend or shift to political trends. Safe supply now! Free DULF! End the drug war! ✊

[Crackdown podcast @crackdownpod]

Today @VANDUpeople, SUDU, @pivotlegal & more rallied to mark the 9th year of the OD crisis: +16,000 people murdered by govt inaction.
Speakers demanded safe supply — now a taboo idea —delegitimized by right wing fear-mongering & abandoned by mainstream media and the @bcndp. 1/2