Shifting perspectives is no easy task because news media has immense power to inform public discourse about drug use. Simply put, we urgently need coverage that gives space to the most marginalized folks in our society in order to humanize decades of drug policy failures. This would go a long way in an effort to change attitudes about drug use during the worst public health crisis in a century.

For most Canadians, a legal crisis will often have devastating financial consequences. Legal questions and problems, like health-related issues, are part of everyday life, yet, in contrast to our health care system, our legal system is unaffordable and thus inaccessible to most. But it doesn’t have to be this way.