Berdyans’k, Zaporizhia Oblast, Ukraine – 2018

Organisers: Charitable Organisation Second Life, All-Ukrainian Association of People with Drug Addiction

On this day, June 26 in Ukraine in the city of Zaporozhe and the city of Berdyansk, participants in substitution therapy (methadone) and just people who use drugs supported the 2018 Global Day of Action. T-shirts were given to participants in two substitution therapy rooms at the Zaporizhzhya Oblast Narcological Dispensary and the Regional AIDS Center. Badges and posters were also distributed to all participants of the action and to people who took part in information groups for patients of substitution therapy rooms at the Zaporozhe narcological dispensary, the Regional AIDS Center and the Berdyansk Psych neurological Dispensary.

Actions within the global campaign “Support. Don’t Punish” were held throughout Ukraine on June 26. ,, Almost all regions of the country took part in the actions: Kiev region, Poltava region, Sumy region, Ivano-Frankivsk region, Odessa region, Kharkiv region, Zaporizhia region, Zhytomyr region, Lugansk region, Dnipropetrovsk region, Chernivtsi region, Lviv region, Nikolaev region.

These actions were organised by: All-Ukrainian Association of People Living with Drug Addiction (“VOLNA”) with the support of the Alliance of Public Health, 100% of Life Network, Eurasian Network of People Who Use Drugs (ENPUD), Public Association “Meridian”, NGO “NA Club”, Chance Club, Parus, All-Ukrainian League “Legalife”, All-Ukrainian Association of Drug-Addicted Women (“ONA”), Second Life, as well as representatives of public, state and international organisations.

In small groups, holding hand-written posters, people took to the streets of their cities with one message: “Support. Don’t Punish”. They were all the activists and volunteers who responded to the call of the All-Ukrainian Association of People Living with Drug Addiction (“VOLNA”) to join the action, and were not afraid to speak publicly about decriminalization and repressive laws in the country.

The team of the Foundation “Second Life” and members of the regional representative office of the All-Ukrainian Association of People Living with Drug Addiction (VOLNA) held actions as part of the global campaign “Support. Don’t Punish» in Zaporizhia and Berdyansk. We have chosen the key slogan of the movement for our actions, which is “People who use drugs should no longer be prosecuted as criminals!”

The actions took form of informational meetings for participants of the substitution therapy programs and people who use drugs in Zaporizhia and Berdyansk. The activists told patients of OST and drug users about the international campaign “Support. Don’t Punish”, distributed t-shirts and badges.

T-shirts and badges with “Support. Don’t Punish” logo were also presented to the medical management of the narcology hospital and our colleagues from the “Spodivannya” Foundation, whose President supported this international campaign.

The meetings were facilitated by Denis Korshunov, a representative of “VOLNA”  in Zaporizhia region and member of the Coordination Council of the Eurasian Network of People who Use Drugs (ENPUD).