Episodes

  • Episode 55: The Man in the High Castle

    Episode 55: The Man in the High Castle
    Jul 1 2025
    With fascism on the rise around the world, we explore the relationship between Canada’s housing and policing policies and the risk of far right authoritarianism at home.
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    43 mins
  • Episode 54: Get Sober or Get Dead

    Episode 54: Get Sober or Get Dead
    Jun 4 2025
    Alberta is the involuntary treatment capital of Canada. Since 2006, the province has encouraged parents to waive their children’s rights and force them into detox as part of the Protection of Children Abusing Drugs Act. And in the coming months, Alberta will begin involuntarily detaining adults as well. On episode 54, Crackdown producer Alex de … Continue reading Episode 54: Get Sober or Get Dead →
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    49 mins
  • Episode 53: Goodbye Trey

    Episode 53: Goodbye Trey
    May 13 2025
    We lost another soldier from the front lines. Trey Helten, longtime manager of the Overdose Prevention Society and all around harm reduction hero on the Downtown Eastside has died at 42. Trey saved hundreds of lives. He was a friend to Crackdown and often helped connect us with community members. He was featured on the … Continue reading Episode 53: Goodbye Trey →
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    23 mins
  • Episode 52: We Will Delete All This

    Episode 52: We Will Delete All This
    Apr 15 2025
    Garth’s new book, Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War On Drugs, has just been published by Penguin Random House and is now available for purchase online. In Episode 52 of Crackdown, Garth reads a chapter of his book called “We Will Delete All This,” about his first time using heroin as a teenager in San … Continue reading Episode 52: We Will Delete All This →
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    33 mins
  • Episode 51: Goodbye Shelda

    Episode 51: Goodbye Shelda
    Apr 7 2025
    On March 26th, we learned that our dear friend and comrade Shelda Kastor passed away. Shelda was a hero who dedicated decades of her life to fighting for the poor, drug users, Indigenous people, and women in Vancouver. Since Crackdown’s first meeting, Shelda helped us tell the story of how colonialism and the drug war … Continue reading Episode 51: Goodbye Shelda →
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    13 mins
  • Episode 50: The Toll

    Episode 50: The Toll
    Mar 13 2025
    It’s the end of an era in Canada. On March 10th – after nine years in power – Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as Canada’s Prime Minister. We mark the occasion by looking back at Trudeau’s legacy on the drug war: over 50,000 preventable overdose deaths. And we struggle to describe how this epidemic of … Continue reading Episode 50: The Toll →
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    45 mins
  • What happens when you give drug users drugs?

    What happens when you give drug users drugs?
    Feb 3 2025
    In this bonus episode, we’re introducing On Drugs from CBC. On Drugs from CBC looks through the lenses of history, pop culture and personal experience to understand how drugs have shaped our world. Because even if it’s just caffeine or ibuprofen, there’s a good chance you’re on drugs right now. In Vancouver’s East Hastings, the … Continue reading What happens when you give drug users drugs? →
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    54 mins
  • Episode 49: The Best Place

    Episode 49: The Best Place
    Dec 6 2024
    Vancouver, British Columbia, is one of the best places on earth – a world class city surrounded by ocean and mountains. If you can afford it, the good life is yours. But over the last fifteen years, Vancouver has become more dangerous for drug users than ever before. Especially young drug users. In episode 49, … Continue reading Episode 49: The Best Place →
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    41 mins