Episode 55: The Man in the High Castle
With fascism on the rise around the world, we explore the relationship between Canada’s housing and policing policies and the risk of far right authoritarianism at home.
Jul 01, 2025•43 min
Crackdown
The drug war, covered by drug users as war correspondents. Crackdown is a monthly podcast about drugs, drug policy and the drug war led by drug user activists and supported by research. Each episode will tell the story of a community fighting for their lives. It’s also about solutions, justice for those we have lost, and saving lives.
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Episodes
Episode 54: Get Sober or Get Dead
Alberta is the involuntary treatment capital of Canada. Since 2006, the province has encouraged parents to waive their children’s rights and force them into detox as part of the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act. And in the coming months, Alberta will begin involuntarily detaining adults as well. On episode 54, Crackdown producer Alex de … Continue reading Episode 54: Get Sober or Get Dead →
Jun 04, 2025•49 min
Episode 53: Goodbye Trey
We lost another soldier from the front lines. Trey Helten, longtime manager of the Overdose Prevention Society and all around harm reduction hero on the Downtown Eastside has died at 42. Trey saved hundreds of lives. He was a friend to Crackdown and often helped connect us with community members. He was featured on the … Continue reading Episode 53: Goodbye Trey →
May 13, 2025•23 min
Episode 52: We Will Delete All This
Garth’s new book, Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War On Drugs, has just been published by Penguin Random House and is now available for purchase online. In Episode 52 of Crackdown, Garth reads a chapter of his book called “We Will Delete All This,” about his first time using heroin as a teenager in San … Continue reading Episode 52: We Will Delete All This →
Apr 15, 2025•33 min
Episode 51: Goodbye Shelda
On March 26th, we learned that our dear friend and comrade Shelda Kastor passed away. Shelda was a hero who dedicated decades of her life to fighting for the poor, drug users, Indigenous people, and women in Vancouver. Since Crackdown’s first meeting, Shelda helped us tell the story of how colonialism and the drug war … Continue reading Episode 51: Goodbye Shelda →
Apr 07, 2025•13 min
Episode 50: The Toll
It’s the end of an era in Canada. On March 10th – after nine years in power – Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister. We mark the occasion by looking back at Trudeau’s legacy on the drug war: over 50,000 preventable overdose deaths. And we struggle to describe how this epidemic of … Continue reading Episode 50: The Toll →
Mar 13, 2025•45 min
What happens when you give drug users drugs?
In this bonus episode, we’re introducing On Drugs from CBC. On Drugs from CBC looks through the lenses of history, pop culture and personal experience to understand how drugs have shaped our world. Because even if it’s just caffeine or ibuprofen, there’s a good chance you’re on drugs right now. In Vancouver’s East Hastings, the … Continue reading What happens when you give drug users drugs? →...
Feb 03, 2025•54 min
Episode 49: The Best Place
Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the best places on earth – a world class city surrounded by ocean and mountains. If you can afford it, the good life is yours. But over the last fifteen years, Vancouver has become more dangerous for drug users than ever before. Especially young drug users. In episode 49, … Continue reading Episode 49: The Best Place →
Dec 06, 2024•41 min
Episode 48: Losing BC
On the eve of a provincial election in British Columbia, Garth and Sam drill down on the parties’ platforms. Plus — VANDU member Scotty Archondous tells a story relevant to BC’s coming involuntary treatment program.
Oct 17, 2024•53 min
Episode 47: Low Dead Space
In episode 47, we bring you a brief update on the show and the harm reduction movement. Plus you’ll hear new tunes from Garth’s band.
Sep 04, 2024•15 min
Episode 46: The Bench
In Canada, alcohol is legal and we have a safe supply of booze. So why do some people drink mouthwash or rice wine? And why does the state over-police poor people for public drinking? In episode 46, we learn how Canada’s alcohol policies drive illicit drinking. And we hear from a group of drinkers who … Continue reading Episode 46: The Bench →
Jul 08, 2024•54 min
Episode 45: Recriminalization
Politicians and much of the media have been lying and whipping up a moral panic. And now, decriminalization in British Columbia is all but dead. In this episode, Garth talks with Crackdown senior producer Sam Fenn and VANDU organizer Hannah Dempsey to bring you the straight goods on why drugs have been re-criminalized and what … Continue reading Episode 45: Recriminalization →
May 10, 2024•50 min
Episode 44: Kids on the Block Part 3 – Danny
Right wing politicians say safe supply will hurt kids – that young people will get hooked on drugs they’d otherwise never try. But kids already use drugs. If we want to protect and stabilize the lives of young people who use drugs, we need a regulated, non-toxic drug supply. On episode 44, we hear from … Continue reading Episode 44: Kids on the Block Part 3 – Danny →
Mar 22, 2024•39 min
Episode 43: Kids on the Block Part 2 – Jade
Rightwing politicians and media pundits want us to fear safe supply and harm reduction. They say these interventions are putting children and families in danger, when we know the opposite is true. But there is one thing these conservatives are right about: Canadian kids have never been less safe. Not because of harm reduction, but … Continue reading Episode 43: Kids on the Block Part 2 – Jade →
Feb 16, 2024•57 min
Episode 42: Kids on the Block Part 1 – Bones
Across the country, politicians and the media are fearmongering about children’s safety. They’re using a faux concern about families to attack harm reduction and the drug user movement. And their rhetoric is rolling back life-saving, public health responses to the overdose crisis. But now young people are pushing back. They’re saying they don’t want to … Continue reading Episode 42: Kids on the Block Part 1 – Bones →...
Nov 28, 2023•44 min
Episode 41: New Front, Old War
Toxic drug deaths continue to break records in BC. We need an immediate expansion on all harm reduction initiatives. More than anything, we need a real safe supply. Instead, the BC NDP is moving backwards. They’ve fallen in line with a nation-wide moral panic and are actively rolling back the province’s hydromorphone prescribing and drug … Continue reading Episode 41: New Front, Old War →
Nov 21, 2023•42 min
Episode 40: Boys Don’t Cry
In the trades there’s a zero-tolerance policy on substance use. But the construction industry relies on drugs. Cocaine and stimulants help maintain a demanding rate of production and opioids treat the pain caused by injury and gruelling physical labour. On the 40th episode of Crackdown, we tell the story of one construction industry veteran, Trevor … Continue reading Episode 40: Boys Don’t Cry →
Aug 04, 2023•43 min
Episode 39: Backlash
A right wing backlash against harm reduction and safe supply is brewing in Canada. Garth Mullins and Sam Fenn tell the story of how we got here — and what needs to be done to fight back.
Jul 06, 2023•38 min
Episode 38: The Knock
Being a mother who uses drugs can put you under constant scrutiny from the government. Especially if you’re Indigenous. You’re judged and watched. You live in fear of that knock on the door, when they come to take your kids away. Many moms are rightly scared to access safer supply, harm reduction, detox and withdrawal … Continue reading Episode 38: The Knock →
Jun 01, 2023•47 min
Episode 37: Drugstore Cowboy
Diversion: a cold, technocratic word for when we give, trade or sell our prescribed meds to someone else. A ghost story, whispered among doctors and now, a moral panic, hollered by right wing politicians. But really, everyone’s shared their meds. I’ve done it and I bet you have too – as an act of mutual … Continue reading Episode 37: Drugstore Cowboy →
Mar 22, 2023•43 min
Episode 36: Some Exceptions Apply
BC just decriminalized drugs. Well sort of. For the next three years, it’s legal to carry 2.5 grams or less of certain illicit drugs. But some exceptions apply. We’ve been fighting for decrim for decades. The goal has always been to stop arrests and get cops out of our lives. We got a watered … Continue reading Episode 36: Some Exceptions Apply →
Feb 02, 2023•38 min
Episode 35: On the Clock
Sex workers who use drugs are doubly criminalized. They have to look out for bad dope and bad dates. And change comes slow. Fights for incremental change don’t get at the big structures that cause so much harm. Are they worth it? We wonder about this when it comes to drug decriminalization. Next year it’ll … Continue reading Episode 35: On the Clock →
Dec 10, 2022•40 min
Psychoactive Swap
I know you haven’t heard from us in a while. We’ve been busy. There’s a lot going on behind the scenes. So while we’re working on new episodes, we’ve done a swap with another podcast. Crackdown and Psychoactive podcast are swapping episodes. They played our episode on the Drug User Liberation Front. And we are … Continue reading Psychoactive Swap →
Sep 22, 2022•1 hr 15 min
Episode 34: The Iron Law
Drug decriminalization is coming to British Columbia. And that’s a big step forward. Our movement has been fighting for decriminalization for decades. To us, decriminalization means getting cops, courts and jails out of our lives. It means police stop harassing, arresting and seizing dope off of us. For the past year, VANDU sent Garth and … Continue reading Episode 34: The Iron Law →
Jul 19, 2022•33 min
Episode 33: You Will Not Destroy Me
A spectre is haunting BC’s overdose crisis — the ghost of Riverview Hospital. Riverview was one of the province’s main psychiatric hospitals for a century. The giant complex – sitting on 1,000 acres of kʷikʷəƛ̓əm territory just outside of Vancouver – was largely closed in 2012. Today it’s a popular horror film shoot location. Garth … Continue reading Episode 33: You Will Not Destroy Me →
Jun 16, 2022•45 min
Episode 32: Goodbye Greg
Last month, Crackdown Editorial Board member Greg Fresz passed away. As usual, we held a memorial for our comrade at VANDU. Sadly, we do this a lot. There’s nothing really that makes this constant death feel better, but at least we can feel “not better” together. That camaraderie? It’s the only thing that helps. When … Continue reading Episode 32: Goodbye Greg →
May 18, 2022•19 min
Episode 31: Love, Death and Benzodope
Can Martin and Laura’s fairy tale love story survive benzodope – the next lethal era of the drug war? British Columbia has seen a surge of unusual overdoses – including Martin and Laura’s. People are passing out for hours, losing their memories, and getting robbed and assaulted. And deaths have spiked. Again. But our community … Continue reading Episode 31: Love, Death and Benzodope →
Apr 22, 2022•53 min
Episode 30: DULF
In spite of a massive spike in overdose death, BC’s government still refuses to offer a genuinely safe supply of drugs. Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum tell the story of how the Drug User Liberation Front has stepped up to do what the policy makers refuse to do themselves: offer people a safe version of … Continue reading Episode 30: DULF →
Mar 15, 2022•47 min
Episode 29: Resign
2,224 people died of toxic drug overdose in BC in 2021, says the Chief Coroner. How many months of fatal OD statistics have we seen since 2016? Fifty? Sixty? How many health and addictions ministers have passed through our lives as those numbers got bigger, only to move on after a few years? Enough. Politicians … Continue reading Episode 29: Resign →
Feb 15, 2022•42 min
Episode 28: After the Flood
2021 was a year of very ominous weather reports. There were unprecedented heat emergencies, wildfires, and Biblical floods. Meanwhile COVID-19, income inequality, and the overdose crisis continued to become more and more grim. What would it feel like to endure all of this as a young person? What would it be like to try to … Continue reading Episode 28: After the Flood →
Jan 13, 2022•44 min
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