A friend of mine has died today

By Sean LeBlanc, Founder of Ottawa’s Drug Users Advocacy League https://dualottawa.wordpress.com/

A friend of mine has died today

    He’ll meet the others soon

A friend of mine has died today

    At two minutes shy of noon.

A friend of mine has died today 

    Way before her time

A friend of mine has died today

     The very last of her sweet kind

A friend of mine has died today

     They dared to quell their pain

A friend of mine has died today

     It will never be the same…

Criminalization, stigmatization, and ugly looks

     Put her in a grave

     All because she used a drug

     Does not mean she wasn’t brave

My photo book is full of dead

     When will my picture be there too

Waking up drenched in sweaty dread

    Who died yesterday that I love too?

Photos of people in a scrapbook
Scrap book honouring the lives and memories of people who have died of overdose

Death penalty does not exist

    In the true north strong and free

   But yet all my friends up here are

   Dead because of greed

A junkie’s life is not worth much

   To most of society

They are loved and I do know

  my heart will always bleed…  

The hits keep coming but we are

    Strong and resilient too

How many more must we lose

    this drug war is old news   

We die they create

   Services for us all

But always forget WE know the best

   Don’t push us while we fall

Some friends of mine have died today

   I loved them 30 years

A friend of mine has died today

   All I know of late are tears

A friend of mine has died today

   Age of thirty one

A friend of mine has died today

  When will it all be done?

A friend of mine has died today

   Cold and wet and scared

A friend of mine has died today

    And now my soul lies bare

A friend of mine has died today

    A lover, friend, and parent too

A friend of mine has died today

   More will die tomorrow too

A friend of mine has died today

   What is this all for

A friend of mine has died today

   From a racist old drug war

A friend of mine has died today

   But here I am still breathing

A friend of mine has died today

   All of me is still reeling

A friend of mine has died today

     Way before their time

A friend of mine has died today

    Can you tell me why?

A friend of mine has died today

  To give up never a choice

A friend of mine has died today

   And we will amplify their voice!

About Regulation Project

The Regulation Project is an international collaboration to advocate and educate for the legal regulation of drugs.