Two weeks ago, the Blackwood held Here, Better, Now over two days in Mississauga and Toronto. Now, the virtual panel discussion Opening: Precedents and Predecessors is available to stream below or on the event page, until May 24.
In this wide-ranging discussion, Theodore (ted) Kerr, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, and Darien Taylor discuss their stakes in the overdose crisis, their relationships to death and grief, and how their histories of activism inform the present moment. Spanning their respective locations of New York City, Los Angeles, and Toronto, the conversation fosters connection between distinct but interrelated contexts.
Other kinds of connection emerged across Here, Better, Now: like when Brianna Olson-Pitawanakwat cited Esther Tailfeathers as an inspiring and pathbreaking fellow Indigenous harm reductionist. Tailfeathers is a main protagonist in KIMMAPIIYIPITSSINI: The Meaning of Empathy, the documentary film made by her daughter Elle Máijá-Tailfeathers (which can be viewed in its entirety on the NFB website).
Another connection surfaced through contributors’ reflections on drug user activism in Vancouver, which is both pictured in KIMMAPIIYIPITSSINI during a visit by healthcare providers to Insite, and later elaborated on during Jarrett Zigon’s keynote presentation. Zigon highlighted initiatives by and for drug users across the Downtown Eastside, particularly the multifaceted services and community projects of Pigeon Park Savings.
These points of connection highlight two things: the communities of people fighting for safer drug supply and progressive drug policy are small. And yet, connections can be a source of strength: face-to-face interaction, and mutual respect and recognition can motivate organizers to keep going, and to find pleasure and joy amidst the overwhelming grief of the overdose crisis.
During the panel discussion Better: What We Need to Be Well, Carlyn Zwarenstein pointed out the necessity of pleasure in light of drug treatment frameworks that prevent it, unsupported by evidence. Closing with Zwarenstein’s words, we might consider how pleasure and connection can be key takeaways from the event overall:
“What I see is that treatment is equated with preventing pleasure–not for any real reasons of individual or public health. Treatments that don’t have to be miserable, like taking a medication, are made as onerous, humiliating, and difficult to access as possible. They prevent recovery by sucking away people’s time, time that could be better spent building relationships, working in the community, or earning a living. There’s no medical or safety reason this is necessary. Instead of a focus on individual or public health, it’s a focus on abstinence, judgment, and control.”1