06/11/2026
MANIFESTO
We Need a Liberation Movement of People Who Use Drugs
WE ARE THE SURVIVORS…
We are survivors of the drug war. We are current and former users of
illicit drugs. We are people who have had our human rights and dignity
violated, our children taken away and have been criminalized and
incarcerated because we use drugs. We are a community of people who stand up for each other and stand up for the rights of drug users.
We are NANDU:
· a voice for people who use drugs;
· and an organization where the most oppressed and marginalized can
have a voice, act as citizens and exercise real decision making power.
Within our organization we build meaningful relationships, including
mentorship and exchange between generations of activists. Board members and leaders are active and present within meetings where hundreds of drug users participate every week. This makes us stronger as individuals and stronger collectively so that we can fight for the rights and power we are currently denied.
This fight for liberation starts with an end to the stigma, criminalization, and social marginalization which are a predictable consequence of the ill-conceived war on drugs. It extends to “the right to obtain, prepare, and ingest drugs, and to be intoxicated on drugs,
according to our own personal decisions without criminalization or unsought interference from other individuals or organizations” and the creation of a regulated drug market where people who use drugs have access to quality controlled drugs and can use them without fear or prejudice.
And it includes our right to homes, a decent income, transportation,
nutritious food, clean water and healthy and safe communities.
OUR VOICE, OUR WAY…
“Ultimately, the most profound need to establish such a network [of people
who use drugs] arises from the fact that no group of oppressed people ever
attained liberation without the involvement of those directly affected by this oppression.”
At this point in history the question of how drug users are be organized and represented in this liberation movement is decisive. ‘Representation’
of drug users has too often taken the form of less than minimum wage jobs
cleaning alleys or ‘peer’ groups that are really run by non-drug users or
handpicked ‘peer’ representatives who have closer ties to their researcher
or service provider patron than to the community they purport to represent. And while we support current and former drug users to be employable and to work for decent wages in agencies and NGOs, this also does not constitute real representation of people who use drugs as a group,
because these individuals are accountable to their employers and not their fellow drug users.
If we are to overcome the current oppressive drug regime and realize
liberation for drug users, we need organizations of people who use drugs
that are grassroots, democratic, relevant and effective. Such
organizations should:
1. Be open to people who use drugs including the most marginalized and
vulnerable users
2. Be transparent so that people know exactly how they can be involved,
how to access any benefits of membership and move into leadership
positions, and how to exercise their democratic rights as members
3. Be democratic with an elected and accountable leadership that is
accessible to the membership
4. Be clear that people who use drugs get to define how people who do not use drugs participate in the organization
5. Take action on the issues of the most concern to members of the
organization, and have mechanisms for identifying these issues
These basic criteria will ensure real self-representation of people who use
drugs.
We have had enough of self-selecting leaders and token spokespeople.
People who use drugs should be represented by leaders and organizations that are accountable to us and put our collective interests above their own narrow agendas.
This is a challenge to academics, policy experts and service providers - we don’t want to be used as cheap labour, or studied while we die, or be
turned into clients while the resources are handed to ‘service’ agencies.
We will not tolerate actions that exploit the labour, the activist work or
the experiences of people who use drugs and we expect responsible
researchers, experts and academics to support us!
FOR A LIBERATION MOVEMENT OF PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS!
“We need to recognize that it’s not deviant or pathological for humans to
desire to alter their consciousness with psychoactive substances. They’ve
been doing it since pre-history… and it can be in a religious context, it
can be in a social context, or it can be in the context of symptom
management.”
We are everyday people. We are paid and unpaid workers; we are parents,
brothers, sisters and aunties; we are artists and philosophers and
activists; we are community members and friends. We have made and continue to make huge contributions to our families, neighbourhoods, and
communities. We refuse to be labeled based on what substances we may or
may not choose to put in our bodies. We will self-identify as drug users or
junkies or crackheads if we cihoose, but we will not be labeled and
scapegoated for the benefit of those who want to lock us up, or study us,
or warehouse us or fix us.
We might take drugs to deal with psychological trauma or physical pain, or for pleasure or fun. Whatever the case, our use of psychoactive substances in not the problem! In those instances where our drug use is a response to our experiences of poverty, inequality, colonization, forced migration, workplace injury and inadequate access to pain relief, these are the social problems that need to be dealt with, not our use of drugs.
Ending the labeling and scapegoating of people who use drugs as ‘the
problem’, can only be a positive step towards dealing with the real social
problems facing our communities, our neighbourhoods and our world.
Drug users unite to fight for justice and liberation!
