The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users is “@ the edge.”
The Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) is Vancouver’s only democratic, grassroots, user-driven drug user organization. With over 2000 members, VANDU has a powerful voice in the Downtown East Side and has had considerable impact on public policy and practice related to the use of illicit drugs and beyond. VANDU works in partnership with a number of associations/programs that hold weekly meetings within the organization, including the Rock User Group, Education Group, BC Association for People on Methadone, End Prohibition, Eastside Illicit Drinkers Group for Education and the Western Aboriginal Harm Reduction Society.
This panel features select members of VANDU as well as academics and policy makers. This session will question the role of academic research for grass roots organizations, discuss tensions between research and activism, highlight similarities and differences in “user-centred” and “user-driven” activism and problematize the assumption that more social services necessarily translate to the liberation of populations who exist “@ the edge” of society.
This panel is co-sponsored by the Canadian Communication Association/ Association Canadienne de Communication and the Association Canadienne pour la Formation en Travail Social / Canadian Association for Social Work Education.
Date: Monday, June 3, 2013 – 3:15pm to 4:45pm
Location: Elliott Building, E-168, University of Victoria
Panelists:
- Members of the VANDU Board of Directors
- Dr. Susan Boyd, University of Victoria, Studies in Policy and Practice
- Dr. Catherine Richardson, University of Victoria, School of Social Work
- Donald MacPherson, Director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
Moderator: Marc Sinclair, York University, Department of Sociology
Twitter: #vanduedge #csascsconf
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