KPU Student Group Calls For Sensible Drug Policy

Group reforms with a focus on local drug issues

A student group aimed at advocating for a common-sense approach to drug policy is in the process of being reformed at Kwantlen Polytechnic University. Kwantlen Students for Sensible Drug Policy is concerned with issues relevant to mental health and addiction at KPU and it’s surrounding communities.

According to the group’s organisers, recent events surrounding drug safety in the Lower Mainland, such as the Fentanyl deaths, highlight that there is as great a need for such a group at the university now as ever.

“There’s never been a time when moving into drug use has been this dangerous,” says Richard Hosein, administrative and research coordinator for KPIRG, who is heading up the student organisation. “People are always going to be trying drugs, and here in university, we’ve got tons of young people that might move in that direction.”

Kwantlen Students for Sensible Drug Policy was originally founded in 2013, largely to work alongside the provincial drug policy advocacy group Sensible B.C. and their push for cannabis decriminalisation in the province.

The original group also operated under the umbrella of a parent group called Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and as Sensible B.C.’s campaign wound down, the group became inactive. Now Hosein, who was among the student group’s original members, is looking to reform Kwantlen Students for Sensible Drug Policy independently from the parent group in order to focus on drug issues as they affect KPU’s local communities.

“Although there’s lots of issues that are universal, we also feel that the Lower Mainland has unique problems revolving around drug use, safety, and public health,” says Hosein.

Of course, with the federal government’s ongoing process of legalising cannabis nation-wide, the group is concerned with what form the new policy will eventually take. The group is calling for a less corporatised and less restrictive approach to legislation.

“The biggest thing that is probably on most people’s minds is the legalisation of marijuana,” says Hosein. “We still don’t know what that’s like because the government is still giving us the runaround with that. Is this going to be the advent of corporatised cannabis?”

“With corporatisation comes the lack of accessibility and that’s a really big issue,” adds Shay Kane, who heads up the reformed group along with Hosein.

According to the group’s organisers, the most pressing drug issue in the local community at this time is the ongoing fentanyl epidemic. In July, The Vancouver Sun reported that the rate of overdose deaths had jumped 74.2 per cent in one year due to fentanyl contamination. A top concern for the student group will be to raise awareness at KPU about this unprecedented epidemic.

“We’re in the worst opiate epidemic of all time, so we feel like this would be the best time to rehash this group,” says Kane.

The group has several plans underway for the next couple of semesters and beyond. Ideas include a campaign aimed at reducing addiction and drug use stigma in favor of a more constructive approach, educational seminars, a TEDx talk on drug policy, and panel discussions featuring experts on addiction and drug use.

“We’re going around and contacting people who are really prominent in the drug policy reform community and we’re asking what approaches did they take that didn’t work, what priorities should we take when we’re approaching it, and getting a trial and error sense from them so that we can do things in a more efficient way,” says Kane.

Kwantlen Students For Sensible Drug Policy is actively looking for “passionate people” to join them in their mission to create a safer environment at KPU. Students wanting to find out more can reach out to them via the group’s Facebook page.

“All the people in [this group] are really passionate. We are all in it to make a difference and we are all in it for the long term,” says Kane.