Paul Cherashore’s talk was the first time I heard of drug rights activism. The main point I took away from the talk was allowing people who use drugs to be involved in the conversation of drug legislation and reform. This makes sense because people who actually use drugs are the ones who understand situations involving drugs the best. Essentially Paul insisted that it wouldn’t make sense to prohibit drug users from being ‘at the table’ with politicians and lawmakers when talking about drug reform. According to Paul this leads to a lack of representation from the actual community that is apparently being advocated for and can lead to useless and sometimes harmful change.

Another interesting thing that was brought up during Paul’s talk was the difference between harm reduction and drug user rights. Paul said the defining line between harm reduction and drug user rights is the right to use. Methods such as prescribing heroin and programs like safe consumption sites give people a chance to live their lives normally on drugs instead of having to invest their lives trying to find those drugs according to Paul. Paul said “everybody does something dangerous…people rock climb, people drives cars fast…some people use drugs,” and for him, people should have a right to partake in these activities if they so choose to — responsible drug use included.