In British Columbia, Drug Policy Rollbacks Are Limiting HIV Care

published on February 10, 2026 by Lital Khaikin in Filter

Harley Ransom began practicing harm reduction in southeastern Ontario in the late 1980s, when he was 6 years old. His mother was injecting heroin, so he learned how to clean her wounds and shoplift syringes from pharmacies. His mother contracted HIV from her boyfriend, so Ransom also learned not to rush to help her without putting gloves on first.

Today, his harm reduction work is with his community in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside (DTES) as progressive drug policies are dismantled, taking vital HIV resources down with them.

In the 1990s, Ransom joined the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users (VANDU) after longtime activist Hugh Lampkin found him in an alley and roped him into volunteering by the Carnegie Community Centre. The DTES was the site of “arguably the worst AIDS epidemic in the developed world.” Ransom lost his mother and aunts to overdose…