rban Survivor’s Union is a national drug user union located here in the United States. At this time we are the ONLY national drug user union. User Union’s are much like other unions our goals are to represent the interests of people who have been directly impacted by substance use and policies related to drugs. Many drug users have no idea drug user unions exist, and this is something USU is working to change.
The drug war was waged because as Nixon’s aid Ehrlichman reported, “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin. And then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. “We could arrest their leaders. raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course we did.”
WHO WE ARE AND WHAT WE ARE DOING:
WE: The Urban Survivors union are a group of people who know personally the damage stigmatizing labels and misguided drug policy can have. WE: The Urban Survivors Union are a group of people who have come together to demand an immediate end to the war on drugs. We: The Urban Survivor’s Union have decided NO MORE standing back while drug war proponents pass harsh laws that tear users’ lives apart. And no more yielding to well-meaning reformists who continuously harm drug users because they refuse to include us in decision making and have created a system which blames drug users for poorly designed programs and systemic failures.
Why do people use drugs? When people use drugs they are often using to solve a medical, health problem. There are people that have chronic pain. Many people take medication /drugs to treat depression or some other illness. Some of us are taking suboxone, buprenorphine or methadone as maintenance therapy. Some people take drugs to relax,to sleep, or to feel more confident or less self conscience. Some are using for fun or maybe just to cope with life. Lots of people don’t know why they use drugs they just do. We are in no way suggesting that drugs do not cause harm. We know that many drugs can produce powerfully negative consequences even death. But even as we acknowledge this we are acutely aware that drug policy causes far more harm than most drug use. We are dedicated to ensuring that drug users have the resources they need to stay safe from disease and death. We demand that drug users are treated fairly, with dignity and no longer discriminated against. We demand that drug dependence and chaotic drug use be treated as a health issue not a criminal issue.
Uphold the rights of drug users for we are people too!
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