Kyle Lumsden, Canadian Drug Policy and Chapter Co-Leader CSSDP
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): The Good Men Project
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2017/08/05
I interview friends, colleagues, and experts, on harm reduction and its implications in Canadian society, from the theory to the practice, to the practical. I am a Member-at-Large for Outreach for Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy and writer for Karmik, Fresh Start Recovery Centre, and the Marijuana Party of Canada. Here I interview Kyle Lumsden, part 1.
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: How did you become involved in Canadian drug policy?
Kyle Lumsden: For a 3rd-year public policy class, I wrote a paper on INSITE and injection sites as cost effective tax payer policy. I got my ‘feet wet’ in 2014. So, I wrote this big research paper. I became convinced through learning about drug policy issues.
There is a show called The Wire. The show got me into drug prohibition and policy at a young age. The Wire is about selling drugs in the city of Baltimore. It got me thinking about the legality of drugs. It has been more of an academic issue.
Last May, I was looking to volunteer places. I went to the U of T volunteer directory groups. CSSDP was there. I was invited to the Support Don’t Punish event. I started with a blog post on drug policy and bill C-2. I started that way. I met Dan last September. I helped him run the 9/20, mushroom event. We co-authored an article on psychedelics for mental health.
I am interested in topics such as mushrooms, LSD, Ayahuasca, MDMA, ketamine, and so on. It is for treating mental health problems. It is an area of interest because things like depression and PTSD are hard to treat.
These are novel and interesting methods to treat them. I am in the process of finishing an article on alcohol-based harm reduction, which is an area of personal interest in harm reduction because alcohol has harmed people in my life. I wrote an article on alcohol harm in Canada and public opinion in Canada for a political science class.
Jacobsen: What tasks and responsibilities come with being the chapter co-leader for the University of Toronto position for CSSDP?
Lumsden: I am on the national board. I am the secretary of the national board. I am the representative to the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. Each of those have their own things. I have to take minutes of the board meetings.
Now, I will be organizing the agenda for each board meeting. For the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, it is an organization-think tank for drug policy reform. I have to attend a monthly meeting with Donald MacPherson in a steering committee for drug policy.
On the board, I have to attend the monthly meetings. I am on the outreach committee for organizing events. I do whatever they ask of me.
Jacobsen: What do you think is the core principle of the CSSDP?
Lumsden: It is harm reduction and grassroots activism. It is engaging young people. Harm reduction is interesting. I started university at 25. I taught overseas. I am 29 now. I can stay in CSSDP until May, when I turn 30. Also, I graduate in a couple of months. My time with CSSDP is coming to a close.
Jacobsen: With respect to harm reduction philosophy as a model and strategy, what do you consider its core outlook on drugs and drug policy?
Lumsden: It is probably to help people where they stand and to acknowledge individuals do harmful activities and substances rather than moral condemnation and criminal punishment to help them not make the situation worse. It is more pragmatic and realistic; not based on ideology or idealism.
Jacobsen: The opposing position as a philosophy tends to be a punitive or zero tolerance approach. What do you think of its general philosophy?
Lumsden: It is misguided. I am more to the center from most of the people in the CSSDP in terms of political views. My major is in criminology. I have done research in Toronto. I interviewed many police officers. I asked them many questions.
I do not get mad at people that think an arrest is acceptable for drug use, but it is misguided and based on the idea that punishment will change the behavior. Everyone was raised with this view.
It is based on the misguided idea that prisons and punishment reform people, but people do drugs in prison. The time of release from prison is the greatest likelihood of overdose death. Drug crimes are the great forms of recidivism.
When I started the research, it was about the laws fulfilling the intended claims. This philosophy of punishment, in general, does not work for substances.
Jacobsen: Do you consider the preventative part of the harm reduction philosophy or the treatment part more important?
Lumsden: I think the second part. Treatment and rehabilitation are more important than prevention. Prevention is difficult, especially with ‘forbidden fruit.’ I do not know how you can stop teens from smoking pot or becoming ‘blackout’ drunk. It is human nature.
People are born. They take substances. Prevention is important. Substance use does not need to be prevented or treated all of the time. Only 20% of people that try drugs become addicted to them. 80% do not acquire problematic addictions.
Even if they do a line of cocaine, they are not by necessity addicted. If they do it on New Years, does that mean they have that type of addiction? Maybe or maybe not; the focus on prevention and treatment can ignore the fact that it does not need to be prevented or treated. Of course, there are cases where that is needed too.
Jacobsen: Harm reduction philosophy is not only a theory but a practice, too. You mentioned INSITE before. It is one practical example. What practical example across Canada seems like a good success story of the harm reduction philosophy in practice?
Lumsden: INSITE is one. Recently, legalization of heroin-assisted treatment for opiate addicts was announced. The previous system was the methadone clinics. It is a synthetic opioid. It is addictive and can be problematic.
Also, the advice of ‘cold turkey’ or abstinence only for people with alcohol or opioid dependency can be dangerous for them. It needs to be a ‘weaning off’ system with opiates or alcohol.
The second one is part of NARCAN-naloxone training. Basically, the overdose reversal drug that can be used now. It can be acquired by prescription in pharmacies in Ontario. It is an example of a harm reduction philosophy in practice.
It has been a good shift for harm reduction because it is more widespread to save people’s lives in the case of an overdose. Even though, we do not like the fact they have an overdose.
License
In-Sight Publishing by Scott Douglas Jacobsen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Based on a work at www.in-sightpublishing.com.
Copyright
© Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing 2012-Present. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Scott Douglas Jacobsen and In-Sight Publishing with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. All interviewees and authors co-copyright their material and may disseminate for their independent purposes.
In-Sight Publishing 