KPU instructors participate in research initiative to address Surrey drug crisis
Tara Lyons and Micheal Ma are working with the SUDU to research and raise awareness about the need for services in the city
Tara Lyons (left) and Micheal Ma (right) are criminology instructors at KPU. (Submitted)
In response to the ongoing unregulated toxic drug crisis that has gripped communities across B.C., the Surrey Union of Drug Users (SUDU) is leading a research initiative to address the challenges faced by people who use drugs in Surrey.
The project is funded by a $339,159 College and Community Social Innovation Fund grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Driven by individuals with lived experience, the project is a community-based effort to improve lives, advocate for policy changes, and raise awareness about the dire need for services in Surrey.
Kwantlen Polytechnic University criminology instructors and researchers Tara Lyons and Micheal Ma are working with the SUDU to look into the disparities Surrey faces in regard to the toxic drug crisis.
“We want to improve the lives of people who use drugs in Surrey,” SUDU’s research team members wrote in an email statement to The Runner.
“We’ve lost too many friends and loved ones, and want to stop any more people from dying. Surrey is often ignored when it comes to the toxic, unregulated drug crisis.”
The project comes at a critical time as data from the BC Coroners Service shows Surrey had the second-highest toxic drug overdose deaths in the province over the first nine months in 2024.
“Surrey is quite large and there are different issues across the different neighbourhoods,” the SUDU team wrote. “We look forward to connecting with other people who use drugs about their experiences through data collection, and using the outcomes/findings to help shape SUDU’s advocacy efforts.”
This project’s research is born from advocacy rather than traditional structures, Ma said in a KPU press release.
“This research is just not for pure scholarly academic reasons,” Ma added. “It’s a community development project that has a research component. It can be leveraged for social action to generate new social, economic, and political policy that could benefit people who are suffering, being misunderstood, or being under researched.”
Collected research will reflect the needs of the Surrey community, the SUDU team wrote, adding that the project’s community-run framework is important and represents the core principle of “nothing about us without us.”
“This research is important because it is driven by the Surrey Union of Drug Users, for people who use drugs in their communities,” Lyons wrote in an email statement to The Runner. “They are best positioned to investigate the needs and gaps for people with living/lived experience of substance use.”
SUDU hopes the project’s outcomes will lead to policy solutions that reduce toxic, unregulated drug supply deaths, educate the wider community, and humanize people who use drugs.
“As an organization, we hope the data and findings can be used to advocate for more resources for people who use drugs in Surrey. We also hope this project will help the broader community in Surrey understand the challenges we face and our circumstances.”
