Our Values
The self-determination and human rights of workers should be central to any workplace substance use policy.
Workers should have full autonomy over their own bodies and the freedom and autonomy to use any psychoactive substance they choose as long as their substance use does not impair their ability to work safely.
Workers should be tested for job performance, not what substances they are using.
Drug testing should not be a part of workplace health care. Drug testing is not an effective way to ensure workplace safety and violates the bodily autonomy of workers.
Workers with substance use challenges should be supported rather than punished.
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.
We are opposed to coercive addiction treatment and believe it is ineffective, harmful and unethical.
Employer should not mandate, interfere with or monitor workers adherence to any health care regime.
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 should provide workers with access to voluntary, confidential, culturally appropriate and trauma-informed health care services. Services should be based on current harm reduction / health promotion principles.
Employers and regulatory bodies should not prohibit workers from using pain medications, Opioid Agonist Treatments (OAT) and psychiatric medications.
The structures, systems and working conditions that can lead to workers developing substance use challenges, need to be addressed 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.
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.