Hamilton

July 27 & 29, 2021

Getting to Tomorrow Hamilton is a community public health dialogue on solutions to the overdose crisis.

Participating organizations: Canadian Mental Health Association, City of Hamilton, Community Pharmacy, De dwa da dehs nyes Aboriginal Health Centre, Good Shepherd, Grenfell Ministries, Hamilton Police Service, Hamilton Public Health, Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team, HAMSMaRT (Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team), Keeping Six Hamilton, Marchese Pharmacy, McMaster University, Ministry of Solicitor General – Hamilton, Mission Services Hamilton, Mohawk College, Open Heart Arts, People with Lived and Living Experience of Drug Use, SNP- HPS, The AIDS Network, Wesley Urban Ministry, YWCA Hamilton

Community Partners

Support drug policies based on evidence and compassion.

Getting to Tomorrow is a project of Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. Sign up for their monthly newsletter to get updates on the project and learn more about drug policy and how you can take action for change.

In Memory

A young woman standing with her brother

Remembering Ginny

Latest Blog Posts

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Integrating Best Practices of Harm Reduction

A presentation by Olivia Mancini on Integrating Best Practices of Harm Reduction to maximize the health and safety of People Who Use Drugs and frontline workers. Olivia…

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Harm Reduction Is Not Just A Hashtag: Hamilton dialogue report

Getting to Tomorrow Hamilton Brought together by witnessing firsthand the consequences of failed drug policies, 47 members of the Hamilton harm reduction community gathered to talk, share,…

An old stone building surrounded by trees

Local harm reduction and drug policy organizations seek solutions to Hamilton’s overdose crisis at first-ever public health dialogue on drug toxicity deaths and policy change

“We urgently need Hamiltonians to understand that people who use drugs are part of our community, and we deserve to be part of creating a city where our lives matter.”

People gathered in a parking lot

A War on Drugs or a War on People?

Why is a safe supply of drugs that keeps people alive and safe, determined by the morals and perspectives of the public?

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Just a Part of Me

Addiction is only a part of me. So take the time to listen, and you may learn a thing or two about who I really am.

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Don’t make me a project for I, like you, am a person

I ask that you walk beside me so that we can learn from each other.

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The minute I was labelled…I became a case file

I used drugs to find purpose and freedom. Today, I find freedom in love and purpose in sacrifice and service.

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When people stop their judgement, then they’ll see the truth

Stigma and judgement have real and harmful consequences. Change starts with us, and how we see and treat others

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Service restrictions related to substance use cause further trauma and harm to people who use drugs

People who use drugs have woken up from an overdose to find out that they no longer have a bed to sleep in for the night because they were service restricted for overdosing in the shelter.

Media Coverage

Media Coverage

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Changing the narrative on substance use

News & Updates

News & Updates

Hamilton shelter workers create group to save young people from opioid addiction Social Sharing (CBC)

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Drug pandemic fuelled by bad policies (Hamilton Spectator)

Outreach kit from Keeping Six

Advocates say safe drug supply needed to combat spike in opioid overdose deaths in Canada (Global News)

Harm reduction kit on table

Calls for second supervised drug site in Hamilton amid overdose crisis (Hamilton Spectator)

Harm reduction equipment assembled on a table

Beat opioid crisis with safe drugs and places to use them, says forum (CBC)

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Man survived COVID-19 outbreak at Hamilton shelter, but not opioid crisis (Hamilton Spectator)

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Opioid hotline goes 24-7 amid Hamilton overdose crisis (Hamilton Spectator)

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Opioid crisis: Life and death on Hamilton's streets (Hamilton Spectator)

Man crushing drugs in his hands

Hamilton's opioid deaths during pandemic among worst in Ontario, report says (CBC)

Female nurse using a tablet

Canadian Drug Users Need Us Doctors to Step Up With Safe Supply (Filter Magazine)

Videos

Videos

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Stigma and substance use

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Public health approach to drugs

Trey Helten

Saving Lives and Giving Hope: Trey Helten and the Transformative Power of Harm Reduction

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Alternative drug policies

Mothers standing in a field holding crosses

Moms Stop the Harm: A Movement of Mothers Fighting for Change

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Getting to Tomorrow: Ending the Overdose Crisis

Paintbrush illustration of a police officer with the words "overdose deaths," "criminality," and "homelessness" beside him | outcomes of our current drug policy explainer

Outcomes of our current drug policies

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Safe Supply Means Saving Lives