Ep. 4 - Seeking to Reduce Harm: Gord Johns, Member of Parliament for Courtney-Alberni

Seeking to Reduce Harm: Decriminalization, Harm Reduction and The United Church of Canada

Summary

This podcast’s conversation is centred around the work that Member of Parliament Gord Johns is working on regarding his private members bill, Bill C-216, An Act to amend the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act and to enact the Expungement of Certain Drug-related Convictions Act and the National Strategy on Substance Use Act, which will bring the conversation regarding decriminalization for personal use to the forefront against. As, I share within the podcast, in 2018 British Columbia Conference invited the United Church of Canada’s General Council to engage the federal government in calling on Decriminalization of Illicit Substances for Personal Use to the Federal Government through their proposal. At the time the proposal was not engaged by the floor of the General Council and went to the Executive. Since then, conversations throughout the church have been occurring, and much of what has been discussed is similar to what Gord has been discovering in his preparation for Bill C-216.

Line Up

Introduction

Scripture Reading – Jeremiah 22, selections

Conversation – Gord Johns

Gord Johns, Member of Parliament for Courtney-Alberni

Hymn – Long Before the Night

Words: Carolyn McDade, 1988.

Music: Carolyn McDade, 1988; arr. David Kai, 1994.

Performed by: Rev. Bri-anne Swan, http://bri-anneswan.com/

One License # 118009

Blessing

Considerations

- When Gord Johns shared that ‘complex issues need complex solutions,’ he was highlighting the intersectionality of this particular issue. Drug use, even recreationally, is often tied to other pieces of a person’s make up, it maybe linked to: social status, mental health, housing, community; and as such, we invite you to wonder, when you consider what it means to be a ‘drug user,’ what comes to mind? And why?

- Decriminalization has been a hot topic for some, particuarly those who centre this conversation around the need for a moralistic approach. Consider for a moment moralistic concerns and their intersection with the health of the public. What does the church say about public health issues, and where are they often grounded? How do we change or shift that narrative?

Resources

Gord Johns and Bill C-216,

https://www.parl.ca/DocumentViewer/en/44-1/bill/C-216/first-reading

Ways to Support Bill C-216,

https://you.leadnow.ca/petitions/drug-policies-are-killing-people

Books:

Overdose: Heartbreak and Hope in Canada’s Opioid Crisis

Benjamin Perrin

On Opium: Pain, Pleasure, and Other Matters of Substance

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