6 October, 2021
The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted life as we know it, forcing us to adjust to new realities under lockdown conditions that all too often left people who use drugs behind and at increased risk of harm as many of the health services we have come to rely on were closed, defunded or made inaccessible. Peers faced an increased threat of criminalisation under lockdowns and were too often forced into situation which left them with a high risk of exposure to the virus.
Despite these incredible challenges, peers stepped up in unprecedented ways during the pandemic by providing essential care and services to meets the needs of communities where the state was absent and continuing to run service delivery and programmes despite the enhanced risks. Drug user led advocacy resulted to reforms long championed by the community, such as take-home OAT doses and even decriminalisation of drug use.
In this video Jake Agliata, Policy and Communications Officer at INPUD, gives an overview of how people who use drugs responded to the pandemic, and the work still yet to come.
For more information on INPUD’s work during COVID-19, check out: www.inpud.net/covid-19