Garth Mullins
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garthmullins.bsky.social
Garth Mullins
@garthmullins.bsky.social
Host @Crackdownpod.bsky.social VANDU veteran. Drugstore cowboy. National bestselling author. Award-winning journalist. Policy analyst. Shop steward. Blind. Be safe-Keep 6
I rocked my 6 month old baby as I learned another recent bleak war acronym:

WCNSF -

"Wounded child, no surviving family"

Such a common occurrence they needed an abbreviation. I held my baby as the genocide rumbled on and felt fucking useless. #Gaza
November 7, 2025 at 11:14 PM
In this past decade of mass death, there were timid steps in the right direction - at first. But the most coherent, passionate response from the state (and its various apparatus) has been to smash DULF, hire more cops & roll back what little harm reduction we had won.
November 7, 2025 at 9:03 PM
Reposted by Garth Mullins
New on our PODCAST: SFU prof and researcher Kora DeBeck joins us with her comments on the expansion of involuntary care in B.C. @garthmullins.bsky.social @canadahealthwatch.ca @sudubc.bsky.social @msthpetra.bsky.social @koradebeck.bsky.social
tiny.cc/gf7u001
Substance use research scientist questions expansion of involuntary care
Podcast Episode · Redeye · 2025-10-24 · 18m
tiny.cc
October 24, 2025 at 3:48 PM
DULF case in court today. Judge: “everyone knew what was happening. It seems like these 2 [Nyx & 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.” drugdatadecoded.ca/everyone-kne...
"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 du...
drugdatadecoded.ca
October 16, 2025 at 3:26 AM
We started DULF because we knew nobody was coming to save us, so we had to save ourselves. It worked. But right wing politicians made themselves famous off scapegoating us. The government de-funded us. The cops raided us. But our day in court is here. thetyee.ca/News/2025/10...
Safe Drugs on Trial: DULF’s Trafficking Case Begins | The Tyee
The founders are charged with trafficking. Their lawyers argue they had a legal exemption from drug laws.
thetyee.ca
October 14, 2025 at 6:51 PM
I’ve been invited to a writers festival. I’m gonna need a tweed jacket with elbow patches. I believe they are mandatory.
October 10, 2025 at 6:18 PM
My 5 month old baby started hugging me last week.
I no longer need opioids.
October 1, 2025 at 6:46 PM
I’m sorry B-52s, but your love shack sounds like a pretty rancid joint. All the backing vocals in the universe can’t compensate for the couch in there
October 1, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by Garth Mullins
Just finished Crackdown by @garthmullins.bsky.social

It’s an essential piece of history and good sense policy on the failures of the drug war.

I highly recommend to anyone, especially educators.

www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/700597...
Crackdown by Garth Mullins | Penguin Random House Canada
*NATIONAL BESTSELLER*Part memoir, part manifesto, Crackdown is a story of the drug war, told from the frontlines.
www.penguinrandomhouse.ca
September 27, 2025 at 7:32 PM
Reposted by Garth Mullins
Both the poison drug crisis & the climate crisis were declared emergencies. Both have been met with half-measures that fail while the far-right mobilizes and governments offer funding cuts and increased police budgets.

Listen now: www.climateemergencyunit.ca/podcast
September 8, 2025 at 7:27 PM
I was honoured to talk with @sethdklein.bsky.social & @anjaliappadurai.bsky.social about the interconnections between drug war & the climate apocalypse. It's all necropolitics.
"We're all on the same conveyor belt to the streets," says @garthmullins.bsky.social of the Crackdown podcast.

Our NEW episode of Break In Case of Emergency examines the interconnections between the poison drug crisis and the climate crisis.

www.climateemergencyunit.ca/podcast
September 9, 2025 at 12:43 AM
VPD has zero credibility in reporting violent crime statistics. By selective & sensational use of stats, they helped their friends get elected to city council. Now Task Force Barrage is out of gas & VPD wants more money. dailyhive.com/vancouver/va...
City claims Vancouver has hit a 23-year low in violent crime | News
The City of Vancouver and Mayor Ken Sim are celebrating a reported 23-year low in violent crime, dating back to 2022, when records began.
dailyhive.com
September 9, 2025 at 12:41 AM
I am honoured to be invited by Fr. Bill Mok to give the keynote address at Together From Stigma to Support conference at St. Alban's Church in Richmond, BC on Saturday. Everyone welcome.
August 28, 2025 at 9:55 PM
New VANDU member joined up.
August 25, 2025 at 5:14 PM
In the hi tech dystopian futures imagined in film and TV, space travel is possible but somehow not a fluorescent light that doesn't flicker.
August 20, 2025 at 12:28 AM
Reposted by Garth Mullins
Flight attendants at Air Canada have shown workers acting in solidarity can defy a crackdown on their rights—and strike for a better deal, including ending unpaid work.

As Carney prepares major cuts and attacks on public sector workers, it’s a model for bold labour action. youtu.be/f08RS-o5ohk
August 19, 2025 at 5:25 PM
Amazing! Hope you like it, Peter. Thanks
Excited to see this has been purchased by @cityofmelbourne.bsky.social public #library and I’m the first to borrow it … @garthmullins.bsky.social
August 18, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Solidarity with CUPE flight attendants. All workers benefit from their defiance of back to work orders. Their fight is our fight.
August 17, 2025 at 5:02 PM
My aunt was the 1st Chinese Canadian woman elected to public office in British Columbia. She died over the weekend. Her & her mother were well-known activists in the Vancouver Chinese community. They brought our family together with food & love. My baby got to meet her in her last few days 💔
August 11, 2025 at 7:16 PM
Reposted by Garth Mullins
Just finished reading @garthmullins.bsky.social extraordinary memoir Crackdown. If you are looking to better understand addiction and the insanity of the war on drugs, I highly recommend it. Fantastic writing & deep insights.
August 9, 2025 at 7:06 PM
Full house at BCAPOM today for a listening party: @crackdownpod.bsky.social ep37 “Drugstore Cowboy” about the moral panic around “diversion” (AKA Sharing) www.crackdownpod.com/episodes/epi...
Episode 37: Drugstore Cowboy — Crackdown Podcast
Diversion: a cold, technocratic word for when we give, trade or sell our prescribed meds to someone else. A ghost story, whispered among doctors and now, a moral panic, hollered by right wing politici...
www.crackdownpod.com
August 6, 2025 at 9:21 PM
🏳️‍🌈☂️You can’t celebrate Pride while leaving sex workers behind. Pride was born from resistance. Queer & trans people-including sex workers-fought unjust laws. Not just a parade. #WISH
August 1, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Trump's order to erase, banish, incarcerate anyone who can't pay North America's skyrocketing rents. Deep criminalization of homeless & drug users. This is what fascism looks like. Jurisdictions to the north try variations of bits of this, dream of the whole regime www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered: Section 1.  Purpose and
www.whitehouse.gov
July 26, 2025 at 1:35 AM
Please help get this account some legs. Concerned, healthcare professionals, speaking out against involuntary care.
One lawyer reviews an online application... That's all it takes to apprehend and hold someone for 72 hours??? Dangerous and unjust. People will absolutely end up in the emergency department in complex withdrawal.
July 25, 2025 at 1:30 AM