"Everyone knew what was happening," judge admonishes Crown as DULF awaits trafficking verdict
Justice Catherine Murray closed the trial with remarks that showed sympathy for the accused and noted the confusing behaviour of Health Canada, the Vancouver police and all other political entities during and since the 2023 arrests of Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum.
The trial concerning drug trafficking charges against Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) compassion club organizers Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum has concluded in front of a courtroom of supporters and legal observers. Justice Catherine Murray will deliver her verdict on November 7.
The Crown prosecutor had a fairly straightforward goal of making use of DULF’s public statements as evidence of their intent. In those, the Crown alleged that Nyx and Kalicum clearly stated they procured drugs from the dark web, tested them using the federal government drug checking service, packaged them in labelled boxes that spell out the contents as "heroin," "methamphetamine" or "cocaine," and then sold them to club members at street prices.
According to the prosecution, this falls under possession with intent to traffic, activity that is not covered by DULF's Urgent Public Health Needs Site (UPHNS) exemption from Health Canada.
DULF's defence counsel took issue with this characterization. They pointed out that Health Canada rendered it impossible to obtain the complete Controlled Drugs and Substances Act exemption that DULF sought in 2021. Furthermore, the UPHNS exemption technically permitted DULF to possess drugs onsite at their facility—according to the defence, the exemption did not specify possession with intent to traffic as problematic.
And on the afternoon of October 25, 2023, when Nyx and Kalicum were arrested and the site raided, no physical distribution of drugs was taking place. Kalicum was the only person onsite at the compassion club.
Justice Murray took several opportunities to explore the bigger picture of this case. “The troubling thing about this prosecution is that everyone knew what was happening. It seems like these two," she gestured to Nyx and Kalicum, "are being hung out to dry. As soon as politicians started complaining, all of a sudden VPD—which before was fine—suddenly was not fine.”
This scapegoating, led in part by independent MLA Elenore Sturko, was previously documented by Drug Data Decoded in a timeline describing the events leading up to the arrests in October 2023. DULF's groundbreaking compassion club model was covered by TIME, The Guardian, The Economist and national outlets in Canada while it was operating.
Euan Thomson
“The whole [Controlled Drugs and Substances Act] exemption was nonsensical," Justice Murray told the court. "They were exempted from the middle part," meaning the possession of drugs, "but they still had to do the procurement and distribution." To Murray, this created a "troubling" contradiction that the Crown prosecution did not convincingly address.
There were forty-seven members in the compassion club, and zero deaths occurred among members during the year that the site operated. Since the site was raided and shut down by Vancouver police, at least two members have reportedly died. The compassion club has also published a peer-reviewed academic research showing, among other outcomes, that overdoses requiring naloxone administration were reduced by two-thirds among members of the club.
Longtime drug policy activist Garth Mullins spoke to Drug Data Decoded in response to the court case:
"This court case is a pretty important moment for all of us. While two of our brave leaders are on trial, really it's the whole apparatus of Prohibition that should be on the dock. The war on drugs, and all the politicians and policy makers that maintain it are covered in blood – the blood of our friends, loved ones and families. They accuse Eris and Jeremy of possession for the purpose of trafficking, but I accuse the state of social murder, of necropolitics."
Reporting on the early portion of the trial by The Tyee stated that Vancouver police officers congratulated DULF on their "great work" and told them the police were “happy to assist in any way.” Kalicum also reportedly updated the police chief on DULF's activities by email. In response, interim police chief Fiona Wilson expressed support for "anything that can be done legally to save lives."
If the verdict is guilty, it is expected that DULF will seek a constitutional challenge. If successful, this could overturn the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which has stood since 1996 as the central apparatus of drug prohibition. If the verdict is not guilty, the Crown may choose to challenge the outcome. In this case, DULF would be in a position to challenge the appeal with constitutional arguments–an alternative path to challenging the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Meanwhile, the federal Judicial Review undertaken by DULF and its lawyers has been awaiting a decision for nineteen months – far beyond the typical timeframe for such a case. It is not yet known when that decision will be provided.
Justice Murray will issue her decision at 9:30AM on November 7 at the Supreme Court of BC in Vancouver.
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Additional information can be sent to info@drugdatadecoded.ca.
Drug Data Decoded provides analysis using news sources, publicly available data sets and freedom of information submissions, from which the author draws reasonable opinions. The author is not a journalist.
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