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B.C. Compassion Club Founders Launch Charter Challenge to Canada’s Drug Laws

They argue trafficking provisions block access to safer alternatives that could prevent overdoses during the toxic-drug crisis.

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People gather outside the Provincial Court of British Columbia to support the Drug User Liberation Front in Vancouver, in January, 2024.
Jeremy Kalicum stands outside the courthouse in , B.C., on November 24, 2025. Mr. Kalicum is one of two who helped run a compassion club with the Drug User Liberation Front and have been charged with drug trafficking. Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail.
Jeremy Kalicum stands outside the courthouse in , B.C., on November 24, 2025. Mr. Kalicum is one of two who helped run a compassion club with the Drug User Liberation Front and have been charged with drug trafficking. Jimmy Jeong/The Globe and Mail.

Overview

  • The B.C. Supreme Court hearing opened this week, with guilty findings on trafficking-related charges held in abeyance while the constitutional case proceeds.
  • The defence says the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act violates Charter sections 7 and 15, asserting the club lowered overdose risk by providing tested substances.
  • Jeremy Kalicum testified that bureaucratic barriers created an exemption ‘catch‑22,’ pushing the group to buy drugs on the dark web, lab-test them and sell at cost to about 43–47 members.
  • Justice Catherine Murray’s earlier ruling noted the pilot ‘worked’ and recorded no overdoses from DULF-dispensed drugs, even as she found the conduct illegal.
  • After funding was withdrawn and the site closed, only two or three members managed to access medical safer supply due to access hurdles, and the three-week hearing will feature multiple expert witnesses.