After successful broadcasts of Raw Opium: Pain, Pleasure, Profits in Australia on SBS and in Germany and France on ZDF Arte, our 2-part documentary will have its Canadian Broadcast Premiere this Wednesday, October 5th on TVO, along with a live chat on TVO.org.
Watch Raw Opium on TVO this Wednesday
Part 1: Wednesday Oct. 5, 9 PM EST.
Part 2: Wednesday Oct. 12, 9 PM EST.
- Live stream of the broadcast (open across Canada) on http://TVO.org/rawopium.
- Live chat (open around the world) on http://TVO.org/rawopium.
Concurrent with our broadcast, TVO and Kensington are hosting an online live chat during the broadcast in which a special guest will comment on key moments in the film and respond to viewers’ thoughts as they come in.
A major story-thread in the film focuses on Derek, an IV drug user on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside and the InSite clinic which has been so central to his life. So we expect a major topic of the chat will relate to last week’s Supreme Court decision ordering the Conservative Government to allow Insite to stay open.
As with our audience and panel discussions after our theatrical film screenings, we hope the online discussion will come from a broad spectrum of opinion about harm reduction and drug policy reform – it’s especially timely with the Conservative Crime Bill currently before the House.
Please Join Us!
Where: http://TVO.org/Rawopium
When: Oct. 5, 9 – 10 PM EST (Part 2: Oct. 12, 9 – 10 PM EST)
Special Guests:
Part 1: Richard Elliott, Executive Director, Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.
Richard is a member of the International Advisory Committee of the International Centre for Human Rights and Drug Policy. He has authored numerous reports, papers and articles on a range of legal and human rights issues related to HIV/AIDS, appeared before legislative committees, taught or lectured at several law schools, and presented extensively on HIV-related human rights issues across the country and internationally.
Richard Elliott and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network defended Insite at the Supreme Court of Canada in May 2011, in the case in which the Conservative Government tried to shut Insite clinic down.
Part 2: Eugene Oscapella, Lawyer, Founder, Canadian Foundation for Drug Policy.
Eugene Oscapella is a recipient of the Kaiser Foundation National Award for Excellence in Public Policy for his work over the past two decades on drug policy reform. For almost a quarter century he has written credible research and clear policy advice on a range of issues: privacy, human rights, drug policy, medical-legal subjects, intelligence, national security and criminal justice. He lectures in criminology at the University of Ottawa and frequently lectures elsewhere on privacy and drug policy issues. His research has been published in Canada and abroad.
In 2009 he spoke to the Senate Committee about his view against a crime bill proposed by the Conservative Government. He currently opposes the new crime bill before the House of Commons.
Eugene Oscapella appears in Raw Opium.