Now and over the last few months work has become really challenging, I am now unemployed for the first time on over two decades.
I am using this time to look after my wellbeing and trying to do things that remind me why I decided to dedicate my life to drug policy reform campaigning and harm reduction.
In the weeks and months ahead I have been invited to a number of events:-
The Problem is the Law: 2 June 2025
This will take place in London
The event will bring together grassroots activists and campaigners, together with mutual aid projects and frontline workers from across civil society using a decriminalisation framework to connect our struggles, deepen our analysis and build power to create structural change.
AIVL - Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League
In October 2025 I will join AIVL in Perth Western Australia for there conference, this will be my second time in Australia after the HRI conference in Melbourne in 2023.
Really looking forward to discussing more about drug prohibition, the consequences of this failed approach and solutions for a more humane and just society, look out for further updates on AVIL website - Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL)
Around 2019 I decided on a career change to work with what I then called "addictions" which I was told was a "spiritual illness". I soon became aware of the scale of the problem in Scotland, the vast amount of deaths, of course I knew people were dying, I had lost family and friends, however I did not know just how many in my own country. What I saw quickly was how the "illness" concept had placed me personally at risk, many times since my time on the streets sleeping rough and injecting drugs outside I had detoxed via rehabs and attended abstinence meetings being told that I could not get "well" until I accepted being "powerless" and "prayed" to a "higher power" and "turned my life" over to that power. As it says in the program these groups follow I came to believe that I was one of the ones who "are constitutionally incapable of being honest with themselves" they were deemed to be the "unfortunates".
After the changes in my own thinking to believe that actually people were much less likely to die on substitute medications and could also be "well", productive and enjoy life I saw that drug policy was flawed, that prohibition was causing so much problems as drugs were more dangerous and people were living with so much stigma that they often could not come forward for support I wanted to do something that could encourage wider policy change. So while working as an HIV street outreach coordinator in Glasgow when we had the largest HIV outbreak in the UK for 30 years I decided to start an unsanctioned supervised injecting facility (SIF). I had to quit my job, it took me around 9 months to get the facility started after various issues with fundraising pages being closed and insurance being cancelled for the first van I bought to run the injecting centre from. When I did get the van out and start to run the SIF it ran for a total of 10 months, all of that time I was unpaid so for around 18/19 months in total.
Those that have followed my work closely and my friends will know about my own personal changes including periods when I have again struggled with dependency, this along with a difficult divorce has created a terrible financial situation for me. I struggled for a long time to manage my money going from a place of security to mountains of debt.
Over the last few years since having to end the SIF and when Scotland finally announced they would open one I have continued to campaign hard for drug policy reform spending money to go to demos and events I have organised.
Although some travel and attendance at some events in the past was covered by my employer I have not claimed back many expenses and/or committed to extras like attending the DULF rally put on by Release Drugs outside the Candia embassy, so debts continued to mount on top of debts I had over the 19 months unpaid, a detox after a period dependent when my mental health was poor being surrounded by so much death and pain, divorce costs and costs to maintain my activism.
I kindly appreciate any and all support that anyone gives me. I will always try and do my best with the voice I am now fortunate enough to have due to running the SIF and the act of civil disobedience, I do so and campaign as hard as I can in memory of those lost, my family and friends, and each death, as each death is someone's someone, and each one is preventable, we can and we must do more, I promise to always give my all in each and every way that I can to promote that we support don't punish.
Much love to each and everyone, I'm emotional with all the help, I really didn't know so many people loved and supported me ❤️
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