Care Not Criminalization — Support. Don’t Punish 2025

In collaboration with harm reduction groups and allied organizations from across the country, the Harm Reduction Action Collective (HRAC) and HIV Legal Network hosted a national virtual event on June 26th, 2025 – marking the Global Day of Action as part of the international Support. Don’t Punish campaign. The Global Day of Action is a moment of transnational solidarity – bringing us together to oppose stigma and injustice, while fostering change in laws, policies, and practices that undermine our communities’ wellbeing.

Speakers from across the country joined us to address a variety of intersecting themes, topics, and communities, including (but certainly not limited to): harm reduction; drug policy; drug user rights; involuntary treatment; mental health care; HIV non-disclosure; encampments and use of public space; sex worker rights; immigrant rights; youth, young people, and students; disability justice; and queer, trans, and gender-expansive communities. Click here to access a flyer with more information and links about our speakers, co-hosts, and the Support. Don’t Punish campaign. Due to technical difficulties, a recording of the event is unfortunately not available.

Speakers from the following groups and organizations joined us:

• 4B Harm Reduction

• Alberta Alliance Who Educate & Advocate Responsibly (AAWEAR)

• Association Québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD)

• Canadian Drug Policy Coalition

• Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy

• Doctors for Safer Drug Policy - presentation slide

• Encampment Justice Coalition

• Frontline Baddies

• Harm Reduction Nurses Association

• HIV Legal Network

• Hummingbird Outreach - presentation slides

• No Pride in Policing Coalition (Toronto)

• Prairie Harm Reduction

• Ryan's Hope

• Students for Harm Reduction

• Substance Overdose Prevention & Education Network (SOPEN) - presentation slides

Want to know more?

Global Day of Action – June 26th: Support. Don’t Punish is a global grassroots-centred initiative in support of harm reduction and drug policies that prioritize public health and human rights. The campaign seeks to put harm reduction on the political agenda by strengthening the mobilization capacity of communities targeted by the “war on drugs” and their allies, opening dialogue with policymakers, and raising awareness among the media and the public. The campaign’s yearly high point is the Global Day of Action, which takes place on, or around, 26th June (the International Day Against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking). Historically, this date has been used by governments to showcase their drug control “achievements” in coercive terms. The campaign’s Global Day of Action seeks to reclaim and shift that day’s narrative. To learn more about Support. Don’t Punish, visit: https://supportdontpunish.org/.

Co-host: HRAC is a national, independent, and non-government affiliated grassroots collective of harm reductionists, organizers, activists, and advocates spanning across Canada. HRAC members are committed to breaking down borders, and to building bridges of connection across communities – to harness the collective power of the transformative grassroots organizing efforts happening locally across the country. To learn more about the HRAC, visit: https://www.hractioncollective.com/.

Co-host: The HIV Legal Network promotes the human rights of people living with HIV or AIDS and other populations disproportionately affected by HIV, punitive laws and policies, and criminalization, in Canada and internationally. They do this through research and analysis, litigation and other advocacy, public education, and community mobilization. To learn more about the HIV Legal Network, visit: https://www.hivlegalnetwork.ca/site/?lang=en.