About SAPWUD

Solidarity Alliance of People Who Use Drugs (SAPWUD)

The Solidarity Alliance of People Who Use Drugs (SAPWUD) is a grassroots, peer-led harm reduction and drug user liberation collective based in Hamilton, Ontario. We are a mutual aid alliance by and for people who use drugs, committed to saving lives, building community power, and fighting the systems that criminalize, stigmatize, and kill us.

SAPWUD was founded by Kayla Hagerty, a Hamilton-born organizer, former drug user (crack and fentanyl), and the daughter of someone who died from an overdose during Canada’s drug toxicity crisis in 2020. Kayla holds a Master’s degree in Sociology with a focus on drug policy, and her work is rooted in lived experience, political analysis, and care for people abandoned by prohibition.

What began as a school project to raise awareness about overdose deaths and the poisoned drug supply in Canada quickly grew into something much bigger. As overdose deaths continued to rise and governments failed to act, the project transformed into an unsanctioned outreach and drug user liberation alliance—focused not only on harm reduction, but on destigmatizing drug use, defending bodily autonomy, and fighting for the independence, dignity, and liberation of people who use drugs.

Our Work

SAPWUD provides on-foot outreach to overdose hot spots, homeless encampments, and downtown areas in Hamilton. We distribute harm reduction supplies, food, and survival gear; respond to overdoses; share resources and referrals; and build long-term, trust-based relationships with people who are routinely excluded from care.

Our work is:

• Peer-led

• Grassroots

• Unsanctioned and unaffiliated

• Trauma-informed

• Decolonial and anti-prohibition

• Culturally respectful

• Rooted in “nothing about us, without us”

We are not a charity. We receive no institutional funding and operate entirely through the founder’s personal funds and community donations. This allows us to remain accountable to the people we serve—not to funders, governments, or carceral systems.

Our Politics

SAPWUD exists because policy kills. Prohibition, criminalization, colonial drug laws, and forced abstinence models continue to drive overdose deaths, incarceration, family separation, and state violence against people who use drugs.

We fight for:

• Harm reduction as a human right

• Drug user autonomy and self-determination

• Decriminalization and the end of prohibition

• Policy and law changes rooted in evidence, care, and lived experience

• A future where people who use drugs are free, alive, and respected

Our Symbol

Our logo tells our story:

• The poppy honours lives lost to overdose

• The syringe represents harm reduction and resistance

• Clasped hands symbolize mutual aid and community

• A barbed-wire heart reflects love and survival inside systems designed to punish us

Support Our Work

If you believe in drug user liberation and have the capacity to support us, donations are always needed and deeply appreciated.

E-transfer:
📧 kaylahagerty@cmail.carleton.ca

PayPal:
💸 paypal.me/thekingstheory

We stand with each other.
Policy kills. Solidarity saves. 🖤✊

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Get Involved

We are actively looking to connect with people with living and/or lived experience of drug use, those who have lost someone to overdose, harm reduction activists, and people working across care, research, and community support — including social service workers, researchers, nurses, doctors, social workers, therapists, peers, and elders. We also welcome anyone who believes in the inherent rights and dignity of all human beings, regardless of drug use or sobriety status. Whether you bring professional skills, lived experience, cultural knowledge, or simply a commitment to solidarity, there is a place for you here.

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What You Can Do

There are many ways to get involved with SAPWUD, depending on your capacity, skills, and interests. Volunteers and members can support our work by:

• Participating in on-foot harm reduction outreach

• Collecting donations and supplies for outreach and mutual aid

• Postering and advertising events, outreach, and calls to action

• Attending bi-weekly, in-person meetings to plan outreach and identify unmet needs in the city

• Delegating at City Hall and other civic spaces to demand accountability and change

• Drafting and sending emails to municipal, provincial, and federal officials to fight for drug policy reform

• Joining bi-weekly community clean-ups on Wednesdays

• Supporting outreach logistics, documentation, and care work

• And much more, based on what the community needs and what you’re able to offer

No prior experience is required — just respect, accountability, and a commitment to solidarity.