Episode 16: Goodbye Dave
We were working on an episode about the housing crisis during the pandemic. But a couple weeks ago, Crackdown lost another member of our editorial board: Dave Murray.
We can’t all get together to mourn him right now, to remember him and tell stories. Like we did with Chereece last year. We’ll get to it eventually, when the quarantine lifts, but until then, we’ll do it here.
Dave Murray was a veteran drug user activist. He was a mentor to the next generation of organizers, including Garth. He’s pretty much the reason why there is a prescription heroin program in Vancouver today. And he was our friend.
Dave was an intellectual – with taped up glasses and newspaper tucked under his arm. But he was also bold as hell.
He helped us launch this podcast. In fact, Dave was there before we even had a name. He was a soft-spoken guy, and he made sure Crackdown got off on the right foot.
Dave used heroin for decades. He was part of these two prescription heroin trials in Vancouver: NAOMI was the The North American Opiate Medication Initiative. And SALOME was the Study to Assess Longer-term Opioid Medication Effectiveness.
The prescription heroin was great – but when the studies were done, people were back to grinding for dope on the street.
So Dave organized with other participants of those studies – he was part of a legal challenge to force the government to let them keep getting prescribed heroin after the studies were over.
Dave broke a path that will – one day – mean anyone wired to down can get a prescription for heroin.
More recently, Dave was sick. He was also heartbroken to lose his brother Les to overdose in late 2018.
Garth spoke with Dean Wilson – of our editorial board, and Ann Livingston. Both close friends of Dave.
Safe journey home, Dave. Take care, buddy.
Transcript
A complete transcript for this episode is available here.
Links
You can read obituaries by Travis Lupick and also by Guy Felicella, Dean Wilson and Matt Bonn.
Ann Livingston has created a Facebook page with lots of Dave’s speeches.
You can read research co-authored by Dave here.
Thanks to Gordon Katic and Travis Lupick for tape of Dave gathered in 2017 for a documentary called The Heroin Clinic.
Credits
Crackdown is produced on the territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.
Our Editorial Board is: Samona Marsh, Shelda Kastor, Greg Fresz, Jeff Louden, Dean Wilson, Al Fowler, and Laura Shaver.
Rest in Peace Chereece Keewatin.
Rest in Peace Dave Murray. Good-bye Dave.
You can support us at Patreon.com/crackdownpod. Special thank you to our Patreon supporters – new ones and those who’ve been with us from the start. That helps keep us going.
Crackdown’s senior producer is Sam Fenn. Our producers are Alexander Kim and Lisa Hale.
Our science advisor is Ryan McNeil. Assistant Professor & Director of Harm Reduction Research at the Yale School of Medicine.
Garth Mullins is host, writer and executive producer. You can follow him on twitter @garthmullins.
Original score written and performed by Sam Fenn, James Ash and Garth Mullins. Our theme song was written by Garth and Sam with accompaniment from Dave Gens and Ben Appenheimer. You also heard a bit of one of Dave’s favourite songs: Van Morrison’s Into the Mystic.
We make this podcast with funds from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. And from our Patreon supporters.
