DULF Founders 'Being Hung out to Dry,' Says Judge

The drug trafficking trial of Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) compassion club organizers Eris Nyx and Jeremy Kalicum ended Wednesday in a courtroom filled with supporters and legal observers.

BC Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray will deliver her verdict on Nov. 7.

The Crown prosecutor used DULF’s public statements as evidence of their intent to traffic drugs.

The Crown alleged that Nyx and Kalicum 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 compassion club members at street prices.

Prosecutors argued the activities were not allowed under DULF’s exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act that only allowed the organization to possess drugs for testing.

DULF's lawyers argued that Health Canada made it impossible to obtain the broader exemption the organization sought in 2021 to allow it to provide tested drugs.

The activities were covered under an exemption that permitted DULF to possess drugs at their facility, the defence lawyers said.

And they argued that on the afternoon of Oct. 25, 2023, when Nyx and Kalicum were arrested and the Downtown Eastside storefront and their homes raided, no physical distribution of drugs was taking place. Kalicum was the only person 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."

DULF's groundbreaking compassion club model was covered by TIME, The Guardian, The Economist and national outlets in Canada while it was operating.

"The whole exemption was nonsensical," Murray told the court. DULF was allowed to possess the drugs legally, "but they still had to do the procurement and distribution."

Murray said this created a "troubling" contradiction.

There were 47 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 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 about the trial.

"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."

Last week the court heard 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 Nyx and Kalicum are convicted, it is expected that DULF will seek a constitutional challenge aimed at overturning 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 appeal the outcome.

Dulf filed a request for a federal judicial review of Health Canada’s decision to deny it a broader review in 2022.

It is not yet known when that decision will be provided.