October Events

• Tuesday, October 2, Planning Committee Meeting Drug Policy Alliance Office, 131 10th St
• Thursday, October 7, Narcan & Overdoes Prevention Workshop, Drug Policy Alliance Office, 131 10th St- Conference Facility-Learn how to identify & prevent overdose, and take home Narcan. If you've already been trained, come back to brush up on your skills & bring a friend!
• Wednesday, October 13, 9am, Moms Against the War on Drugs Rally!, Sacramento. Mothers helped end alcohol prohibition, now they are going to end drug prohibition too! Let's show our support for ending the War on Drugs! Bus transportation & Lunch provided. We will be home in time for our 5:30 meeting. Please email me (sf.users.union@gmail.com) to RSVP and for details.
• Wednesday, October 13, 530pm, General Meeting- Community Organizing Training with James Tracy, Drug Policy Alliance Office, 131 10th St- Conference Facility. We will have pizza.
• Tuesday, October 19, 2pm, Planning Committee Meeting, Drug Policy Alliance Office, 131 10th St- Conference Facility
• Monday, October 25, 5:30pm, General Meeting, Drug Policy Alliance Office, 131 10th St- Conference Facility, pizza provided

Fall 2010 Newsletter

San Francisco Drug Users’ Union

Fall 2010 Newsletter

Greetings, Salutations, and Toke!

Congratulations, you have just received the first news letter of the Drug Users’ Union of San Francisco! Welcome one and all… this letter is to help you, da union member, keep updated on our progress and our events that have taken place, or will be taking place, in the upcoming year. It is also to give you, da member, an outlet to express your ideas, concerns, and stories so that the rest of us may benefit from your experiences and knowledge! We want to hear from you! There is a place in the choir for everyone! If you’d like to be part of future newsletters please contact Alexandra (415 990-3827, or sf.users.union@gmail.com).

Well, with that said, let’s get down to biz. So far this summer da Union has met several times and the minutes of the meeting are included to keep everyone up-to-date.

For the meeting on July 14 we give special thanks to Melissa Struzzo, who took the time to be our special guest speaker. Melissa was working for the San Francisco Department of Public Health to assess their Harm Reduction Policy, and was collecting stories from people who use the health services in SF. At this meeting we also chose a general theme for our first campaign: to decrease the stigma drug users face using services funded by the city.

Our July 20 meeting was spent organizing the campaign in better detail. We decided to focus on decreasing the stigma that drug users face at the San Francisco General Emergency Room.

The July 25 meeting had 14 members there. And our special thanks go to Caycee who was the guest speaker from the UFO study. We also discussed the research we need to do before beginning our campaign.

August started with a Planning committee meeting on the 3^rd. We wrote a questionnaire for the District 6 Supervisor candidates on issues surrounding drug use in the Tenderloin and SOMA. We will compile their answers into a Drug User Voter’s Guide for District 6. Look out for it in late October!

On August 10, we had a screening of the movie, “Fix,” the story of VANDU, the drug users’ union in Vancouver, Canada, how it got started and why. More than 40 people showed up for the viewing, or at least for the pizza, and many showed great interest in the topics discussed! Thanks to all who attended and made this event a success!

August 11 we met for a General Meeting, which is now being held at the Drug Police Alliance Office at 131 10^th st. Seems only appropriate, don’t you think? Again, the time was spent organizing the campaign goals and assigning tasks to the members.

August 14 da Union held our first “Nice People Take Drugs” rally at Dolores Park. Several of our members attended this. We handed out stickers, t-shirts and wrist-bands that said “Nice People Take Drugs,” as well as Drug Users’ Union flyers, and the gang ate great quantities of cookies—no, not that kind! We made a good impression on the public and added new members to our roster. Even a representative of the Park Rangers arrived to check us out. Fortunately, we managed to keep Alexandra sufficiently restrained from challenging the poor guy to a fight to the death and thereby sending us all to jail. She definitely made us proud! U go GIRL!!!

Now, August 19^th was the “Publication Writing Party” for Da Union’s ’zine called “Drug Resistance.” This project is being put together by Isaac, the peer organizer for da Union. Discussions centered around the type of publication we want and the format to be used. Tentatively, it was decided to publish four times a year, the first to be in December of this year. We are looking for people who have experience in publishing, lay-out, photography, art graphics, writing, even cartoonists! So, step up and be heard! Contact Isaac at blogging.on.drugs@gmail.com.

Now, for some not so good news… at the ‘zine party on the 23^rd, a member of the group walked off with a tape recorder that was purchased by da Union to record some of our meetings. This event has caused great distress among the honest members of da Union. Any suggestions on what should be done for such transgressions? Da Union turned down my suggestion of human sacrifice, but I am sure someone else has a good suggestion. No more pizza for this person!!!

On August 23 we had a “Community Organizing Training” given by James Tracy, it was part one of a series. The purpose of these trainings is to give da Union and its members the tools to create change in their communities and to be more active members of da Union. James talked with us about the differences between organizing and providing services. Thanks James!

On September 8, we had another General Meeting, where we continued to discuss community organizing, and also filled some of the new members in on the other Drug Users’ Unions around the world (VANDU in Vancouver, VOCAL in New York City, Junkiebonden in the Neatherlands etc).

At our Planning Committee Meetings in September, we reported back from some of the Focus Groups and research we have been doing on our campaign, and we heard a lot of interesting stories on how drug users are treated at the SFGH Emergency Room. Stay tuned to hear more!

Ok… well that’s the best information I got for you right now! So I guess the time has come for the special Union salute of the month… Now let us raise our bongs in special recognition of organizer Alexandra, whose leadership and fighting skills have brought pride and fear to the Drug Users’ Union! This hit is Mjust in her memory! Salute!

- Written by Gary West, September 2010 (with some editorial Help by Alexandra Goldman)

Updates & Announcements: September 1-16th, 2010

• SF Drug Users' Union General Meeting:  September 8th, 2010. Time: 5:30 p.m.  Location: Drug Policy Alliance 131 Tenth Street @ Howard
• Planning Committee Meeting: September 14th, 2010. Time: 5:30 p.m.  Location: Drug Policy Alliance 131 Tenth Street @ Howard
• 'Zine Production Pizza Party: September 16th, 2010 Time: 5:30 p.m.  Location: Drug Policy Alliance 131 Tenth Street @ Howard.  Help us write our new ‘Zine Drug Resistance
• STAYED TUNED because there’s a lot more in the second part of September!!!

Drug Resistance zine meeting

Drug Resistance update: San Francisco Drug Users' Union next 'zine meeting: - ≈ Thursday August 26, 131 10th @ Howard St at 5:30pm! We are looking for writers, photographers, artists and anyone with a good story to tell! Join us for pizza and creativity.

August Events

August is shaping up to be a fun and productive month for the Drug Users' Union.

Here is what we have planned:

• Planning Committee -Tuesday, Aug 3, 2pm. Drug Policy Alliance- 131 10^th St (members only)
• Film Screening: “FIX”- Tuesday, Aug 10, 6pm. AIDS Foundation, 995 Market St 2^nd floor, room 2b. The story of Vancouver’s struggle to open Canada’s first Safe Injection Site.
• General Meeting -Wednesday, Aug 11, 5:30pm. Drug Policy Alliance Office- 131 10^th St
• “Nice People Take Drugs”- Saturday, Aug 14: 12-3pm. Dolores Park, the Mission. Hang out in the park, eat some cookies, and spread the message-“Nice People Take Drugs!” with signs and conversation.
• Planning Committee - Tuesday, Aug 17, 2pm. Drug Policy Alliance- 131 10^th St (members only)
• ‘Zine writing party!- Thursday, Aug 19,5:30pm. Drug Policy Alliance office, 131 10^th St. Enjoy some pizza and write something for our new ‘zine- “Drug Resistance”!
• General Meeting- Community Organizing Training -Monday, Aug 23: 5:30pm Drug Policy Alliance Office- 131 10^th St

The movie, day in the park, and 'zine writing party will be a lot of fun and are great opportunities for new members to get involved!

We have our first campaign!!

The Drug Users' Union has chosen our first campaign!

We decided last month that we wanted to work on decreasing the stigma that Drug Users face with city-funded service providers. We decided last week to narrow our focus and begin by working with the stigma and discrimination that Drug Users face at SF General's Emergency Room!

This is an issue that we have heard a lot about since we began holding focus groups for drug users back in January of this year. Our members have reported that a lot of drug users will not go to the Emergency Room until they are extremely sick or injured due to the stigma they face by the staff. We hope we can set up a collaborative training or protocol process to ensure that drug users will be treated with dignity when they have to go to the Emergency Room.

We are beginning our campaign planning process today (at 5:30pm at 131 10th Street). We will keep you posted as we begin this important and exciting campaign.

Special meeting! July 20!

We had a great meeting yesterday and worked on narrowing down which issue we want to tackle first. Our fantastic conversations went a bit longer than we anticipated, so we are having a special meeting next Tuesday to finish up.

We will be voting on which issue to work on first... so please come if you have opinions on this decision!

Don't worry if you couldn't make it last night, you should still come and weigh in on Tuesday!

Special Meeting!

Tuesday, July 20

2pm

Drug Policy Alliance Office

131 10th St (between Mission & Howard)

Campaign Planning Meeting

Where: Drug Policy Alliance Office.

131 Tenth Street (between Mission and Howard)
When: Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 @ 5:30 pm
Conflicts with dinner?  Don't worry. We've got you covered.

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

June Meetings!

This is going to be an exciting month for the Drug Users' Union... we are choosing our first campaign!

• Planning Committee: TOMORROW, June 1, 2pm, Celtic Coffee Company (142 McAllister)-- we have a lot to prepare for this month, this will be an important meeting.

• General Meeting: Wednesday, June 9, 5:30pm, Mission Neighborhood Resource Center (165 Capp St)-- we will be having a phone conversation with some of the folks from VANDU, Vancouver's Drug Users' Union, to ask them questions about drug user organizing & their successes

• Current Events Committee: Tuesday, June 15, 2pm, Celtic Coffee Company (142 McAllister)

• Big Important General Meeting- Choosing a Campaign!: June 21, 5:30pm, Central City SRO Collaborative (48 Turk)

May's Meetings

• Current Events Committee: Tuesday, May 18, 2pm, TL Health (191 Golden Gate upstairs)
• Hep C Rally: Wednesday, May 19, 12pm, City Hall. Join the Mayor's Hep C taskforce on May 19, International Hepatitis Day, to raise awareness of Hep C which disproportionately impacts IV drug users
• Alliance for Saving Lives (Safe Injection Site Mtg): Wednesday, May 19, 3pm, Mission Neighborhood Resource Center (165 Capp St)
• General Meeting: Monday, May 24, 5:30pm, TL Self Help Center (290 Turk)

Hope to see you there!