Vancouver police arrest 2 after raids on Drug User Liberation Front

Vancouver police executed search warrants Wednesday at the office of the Drug User Liberation Front, an activist group that has admitted to distributing cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine.

Raids conducted at DULF office in Downtown Eastside, 2 East Vancouver homes

Karin Larsen · CBC News · Posted: Oct 26, 2023 2:36 PM EDT | Last Updated: October 28, 2023

hand holding box that says cocaine — The Drug User Liberation Front distributes cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines, which it says are tested for safety before sale. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

Vancouver police executed search warrants Wednesday at the office of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF), an activist group that has admitted to distributing illegal drugs to substance users deemed at risk of overdosing.

The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) said two people were arrested after raids at the DULF office at East Hastings and Columbia streets, and at two East Vancouver homes where suspected cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine were seized.

The two individuals arrested were released Wednesday night and criminal charges, including possession for the purpose of trafficking, are being considered according to Insp. Phil Heard with the VPD's Organized Crime Section.

"While DULF's actions were intended to reduce the harms caused by toxic drugs, we have always warned that anyone who violates the Criminal Code or the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act could face enforcement and criminal charges," said Heard.

"This group has knowingly operated illegally in the Downtown Eastside and we have now taken action to stop it."

WATCH | Police say anyone who violates criminal code should expect to face charges:

Arrests made after police raid Drug User Liberation Front's office

1 year ago

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The Vancouver Police Department is investigating the activist group — which has admitted to distributing illegal drugs tested for safety — and made two arrests. B.C. United MLA Elenore Sturko, DULF co-founder Garth Mullins, and Vancouver ABC Coun. Brian Montague speak to Gloria Macarenko about the arrests.

DULF says its compassion club model allows drug users to receive up to 14 grams of cocaine, heroin or methamphetamine per week, with the substances tested for safety before sale.

"These actions demonstrate the life-saving potential of a community-led response to the overdose crisis in Canada as a necessary alternative to prohibition and the unregulated drug supply," reads the DULF website.

The Drug User Liberation Front Society received $200,000 of public funding in 2021-22 from Vancouver Coastal Health, the regional health authority.

A man wearing a mask around his chin holds up three boxes, styled like cigarette cartons. They are marked 'Meth', 'Cocaine' and 'Heroin'. The man is surrounded by other people. — A man holds DULF boxes containing cocaine, meth and heroin that were given out during a safe supply event in Vancouver in 2021. (Ben Nelms/CBC)

DULF and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users requested the temporary Criminal Code exemption from Health Canada to operate a compassion club model for hard drugs in 2021, but was rejected. The application was backed by Vancouver city council, Vancouver Coastal health and experts from the B.C. Centre on Substance Use.

DULF co-founder Garth Mullins said the group was founded "because no one else was coming to save us."

It's outrageous that the BCNDP government funded an <br> organization that bought illicit drugs from the dark web - potentially placing money and guns into the hands of murderers. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/bcpoli?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#bcpoli</a> <a href="https://t.co/EVi6YtdIH7">pic.twitter.com/EVi6YtdIH7</a>
—@elenoresturko

"We asked Health Canada for permission to do it legally and they said no. None of us want to be outlaws in this but they forced us to. I can't believe two of my friends got arrested for saving lives," he said.

According to Mullins, the two people arrested were DULF co-founders Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum.

B.C. is in its eighth year of a public health emergency that was declared over toxic-drug deaths in April 2016. Close to 13,000 people in the province have died from toxic drug overdoses since then.

According to the DULF website, a recent year-long study by the organization involved 43 people who sourced tested drugs through the organization. None of the 43 participants suffered an overdose from the tested drugs they received over a one-year span, according to DULF.

Vancouver club will continue to distribute hard drugs in bid to save lives, despite Health Canada rejection

Mullins said with the DULF shutdown, clients of the organization will be forced to get their drugs on the street.

"I know a bunch of people who relied on [DULF] who are now going to have to go to the street supply — not a tested clean supply of drugs — they're going to have to go and take their chances with fentanyl off the street. So I'm worried about them," said Mullins.

DULF has said in the past it obtains the clean drugs it distributes from the dark web, where users can remain anonymous and illicit and illegal activity flourishes.

This Vancouver man opened a store selling tested cocaine and heroin. Then he died of an overdose

In the B.C. Legislature Thursday, B.C. United MLA Elenore Sturko said it was "outrageous" for the province to be funding an organization that buys illegal drugs on the dark web.

"Surely in the province of British Columbia there are other organizations that are not buying drugs on the dark web that you could have funded," she said.