“Nothing about us without us”
It’s not easy being an injection drug user (IDU). They are viewed as vectors of disease, pushed to the margin of society through poverty & criminalization and stigmatized as “junkies” and “crackwhores”. What about thinking of IDUs as experts on drug-use in Cape Breton and valued partners in the effort to reduce new cases of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis C and other drug-related harms?
Already relying on IDUs to share knowledge and distribute clean gear to their peers through the Natural Helpers Network, Sharp Advice Needle Exchange (an ACCB program) has partnered with Addiction Services to undertake a research project on the barriers IDUs have accessing primary healthcare. Drawing on the lived experience of drug users in Cape Breton, the project has the goals of reducing the harms associated with injection drug use, decreasing stigma and judgmental responses to IDUs from primary healthcare providers and increasing access to primary healthcare and addiction treatment for IDUs.
Since last April, ACCB’s own Christine Robinson Porter has been facilitating focus groups and one-on-one interviews with IDUs to identify concerns and problems in their own words. The second stage of the project is to repeat that process with primary heath care providers to ensure as full a picture of IDU health access as possible can be put together.
“Nothing about us without us” is the rallying cry written in a 2008 manifesto by people who use illegal drugs. As supportive people in the lives of IDUs, ACCB staff try to embody the principles of greater involvement, harm reduction and respect for human rights and dignity.
We will be recruiting more Cape Breton IDUs for one-on-one interviews in the next two weeks. Get in touch with Christine if you’re interested.