A person who uses drugs is someone who is unashamed of past drug use, and doesn’t see it as a bad choice given the circumstances. It is also a person who will use drugs in the future in the safest manner possible.

We are not a recovery support group in the traditional sense. There are some people who wish to define recovery in terms of active, safer drug use and we welcome people to identify however they see fit. An important distinction to make is that most drug user activists do not consider themselves in recovery, and many do not believe there is anything more for us to recover from than the effects of the drug war.

Drug user unions are first and foremost a place where people who use drugs can find community and the ability to be who we are without pressure to seek treatment or stop using drugs. A users union usually forms around shared experiences of stigma, criminalization and trauma, and we seek to find a collective sense of purpose in fighting back against the systems that oppress and traumatize us.

We welcome anyone who wishes to attend, but recommend that if you do not identify as a drug user yourself that you give preference to people who use drugs in group discussions and come seeking to be an ally. While we are not wayward children in need of guidance, and are also not immoral or diseased subjects, we welcome people who are sympathetic to drug use or have past experience with drug use to contribute at whatever level makes sense. We are all here to work together and build community around surviving a drug war that affects all of us at different levels.