The co-founders of a Vancouver “compassion club” that distributed heroin, cocaine, and methamphetamine to drug users in the Downtown Eastside have been convicted of drug trafficking offenses.
Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx established the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF) in 2022 to offer clean drugs to individuals who would otherwise be vulnerable to a dangerous supply contaminated with substances like fentanyl and benzodiazepines.
From August 2022 to October 2023, they ran a storefront where they purchased drugs from the dark web, tested them for impurities in university laboratories, labeled them clearly, and sold them to members.
A judge at the B.C. Supreme Court determined that Kalicum and Nyx violated the law by selling drugs to their members, leading to their conviction on three counts each of possession for the purpose of trafficking, despite their argument that some club activities should be exempt from prosecution.
Kalicum mentioned in a text to the fifth estate that the guilty verdict was anticipated.
“The battle is not just ours. We could easily negotiate a plea deal or plead with the government to drop the charges. But we believe this is crucial,” Kalicum stated in an August interview with the fifth estate.
However, their criminal convictions have been temporarily suspended pending a constitutional challenge filed by DULF, which is expected to be resolved next year.
The initial hearing related to this challenge is scheduled for November 24.
Compassion club operation without exemption
In the recent ruling, Supreme Court Justice Catherine Murray acknowledged that Kalicum and Nyx had good intentions in running the compassion club.
“They aim to save lives,” she wrote.
The key issue in the trial was whether the exemptions granted to DULF allowed them to possess drugs with the intent to sell them.
Vancouver Coastal Health had classified the club as an overdose prevention and “urgent public health need” site, granting them exemptions for handling, storing, and testing illegal drugs.
The defense argued that these exemptions meant DULF was not in violation of the law because when the police searched the storefront in October 2023, the drugs were merely stored before or after testing for impurities.
