Our Values
Workers with substance use challenges should be supported rather than punished. They should be treated with compassion, dignity and respect.
Workplaces should have voluntary, confidential, culturally appropriate and trauma-informed health care services for employees who have substance use challenges. The services should be based on current harm reduction / health promotion principles.
The self-determination and human rights of employees should be central to any workplace substance use policy.
Workers with substance use challenges should not be singled out and subjected to a greater level of scrutiny than workers with other health conditions or injuries that could impact workplace safety.
Workplace accommodations for employees with Substance Use Disorder should be provided with the same level of consideration and flexibility as with other health conditions.
Imposing conditions on a worker due to their substance use challenges should only be done as a last resort. This should be based on an individualized risk assessment rooted in science, with the autonomy and human rights of the employee placed at the forefront.
We are opposed to coercive addiction treatment and believe it is ineffective, harmful and unethical.
Workers should always have full autonomy over their health care decisions and have the right to choose what health care provider they see, what their health care goals are, and what health care services, if any, they choose to access.
Employers and regulatory bodies should not prohibit workers with substance use disorders from using pain medications, Opioid Agonist Treatments (OAT) and psychiatric medications.
Workers should have full autonomy over their own bodies and be granted the freedom to use any psychoactive substance they choose when they are not at work.
Drug testing should not be a part of workplace health care. Drug testing is not an effective way to ensure workplace safety and is ethically questionable.
Workers should be tested for job performance, not what substances they are using.
We need to address the structures, systems and working conditions that can lead to workers developing substance use disorders, rather than considering it to be an individual problem.
Employers, unions and regulatory bodies should work together to ensure that workplaces are safe and supportive and should immediately address any concerns about working conditions.
We recognize that Indigenous, black, and other racialized people; people living in poverty; and people who do not have homes; are disproportionately targeted and harmed by drug policy. We strive to amplify these voices.
As we live and organize on Indigenous lands, settler colonialism continues to inflict genocide upon Indigenous people via stolen land, the Indian Act, foster care, policing & criminal justice systems, healthcare systems, education systems, unlawful resource extraction, dispossession of people from land, and the intergenerational trauma of institutions of assimilation and genocide known as "residential schools". We are committed to working to help repair harms perpetrated upon Indigenous communities, presently and historically.
We welcome people of all races, place of origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, ability, religion/lack of religion, family status, age and socio-economic status. We will not tolerate bullying, harassment or discrimination. Please contact us for support, or to join the fight.