Our Vision
Moms Stop the Harm challenges laws and policies that cause harm, including those laws that continue to drive the unregulated drug poisoning emergency in Canada. We call for an end to the failed war on drugs through evidence-based prevention, treatment and policy change. We support an approach that reduces the harms associated with drugs, and that is both compassionate and non-discriminatory for people who use/d drugs (PWUD). We empower families to use their voices without shame, to share their stories and to advocate for positive change.
Our vision is that PWUD are not criminalized and that their rights are respected. We believe that PWUD are deserving of safe and equitable access to health and wellness. We support all pathways to wellness and believe that access to health, social services, and housing should not be predicated on a requirement to abstain from drugs.
Our Mission
We advocate to end substance use related stigma, harms and death.
Our Values
The values represent the core beliefs of Moms Stop The Harm. The values serve to inspire and guide us in the work that we do. They represent what Moms Stop the Harm stands for, and they will inform future generations of leadership.
We commit to fostering a caring community for all. We seek to ensure that all people are treated justly and with compassion. We demonstrate dignity, caring and equality for all.
We share our passion and commitment to energize, engage, and inspire members and advocates to share their stories and have their voices heard.
We value integrity because it keeps us safe with one another, and within the world. Integrity includes the qualities of honesty, courage, and mutual respect.
We value our connections with one another. We aim to give a sense of belonging to all those we support.
We believe in inclusion for all, and advocate for the creation of a diverse, and accepting community that is free of prejudice, one that receives others with empathy and understanding.
We aim to continually learn and educate. In all that we do, we lead the way to a narrative for change, guided by lived experience and evidence-based knowledge.
With courage and respect, we uphold the human rights of persons marginalized and discriminated against because of substance use.
We value our partnerships and teamwork with other individuals and organizations, recognizing the united family voice for change as an integral part of a greater movement.
Our Goals
Our Goals are to:
To achieve equity in health care for people who use substances, including those with problematic substance use or substance use disorder (SUD).
To ensure all levels of government work together to change drug policy to an evidence-based approach that respects and supports the human rights of people who use substances, specifically to ensure:
access to a safe supply of pharmaceutical-grade substances
decriminalization of people who possess illicit substances for personal use
To ensure access to a complete spectrum of fully funded harm reduction services and supplies in all communities, including
the overdose-reversal medication Naloxone,
supervised consumption and overdose prevention services,
To ensure access to all evidence-based treatment options and multiple pathways to recovery, as defined by the person.
To support families and friends of loved ones affected by substance use to help them understand and navigate the system, including treatment options and individual pathways to recovery.
To reduce the stigma faced by people who use drugs by sharing our stories and advocating on their behalf.
To provide emotional support to those who mourn a loved one, and provide awareness, hope, and education to those struggling with substance use and those with lived experience.
To educate the public on current research and evidence-based approaches to substance use.
To promote age-appropriate education for youth, and to promote mental health and harm reduction based approaches to prevent drug harms.
Moms Stop The Harm Key Statements - 2024
MSTH believes that prohibition is the primary driver for volatility of the unregulated drug supply. We advocate for a regulated safe supply for all people who use drugs
MSTH does not believe that involuntary (forced) substance use treatment is “compassionate”, but can cause serious harm and even death.
MSTH supports both medicalized and non-medicalized models of safer supply among the tools to stop the deaths caused by the unregulated, toxic drug supply.
Harm reduction is not in opposition with abstinence-based forms of recovery and is a key tool in providing people who use drugs with a higher quality of life.
MSTH believes that people who use drugs are experts in their own lives, and it is up to them to define what recovery means to them.
MSTH honors and affirms the voices of people who use(d) drugs as experts. We have a duty to make sure that they are meaningfully represented at decision making “tables”.
People who use(d) drugs must be involved in designing, implementing and evaluating programs and policies that serve them.
MSTH calls for the decriminalization of people who use drugs.