Jeremy Kalicum, Regional Director - British Columbia

I am honoured to be able to stand for a position as a board member of Moms Stop the Harm. As a young Canadian watching the crisis of drug toxicity tear through ought our communities and take the lives of our friends and families. I am driven by a moral and ethical obligation to act to make real change to stop an overdose. As an activist, I bring over five years of direct-action experience on the overdose crisis to the table, during which I have had the privilege of working in prominent drug-user-led organizations alongside many MSTH members to push toward evidence-informed and public health-based policy.

Notably, I have served as a director with the BC Yukon Association of Drug War Survivors and as a co-founder of the Drug User Liberation Front (DULF). Both of these organizations have led significant and effective campaigns to improve the lives and health of people who use drugs in British Columbia and to an extent Canada. I am also a Master’s Student of Public Health at the University of Victoria specializing in public policy with a focus on drug policy.

Above all, I am a person who has personally been affected by the devastating impacts of the continuing war on drugs and want more than anything else to put an end to the pointless violence and death. I hope that I will bring a valuable perspective and community-oriented lens to the board of MSTH and strengthen the organization's connection to the community.