Kayla Hagerty

Hamilton, Ontario, Canada

Kayla is 26 years old from Hamilton, ON, Canada, and she is the founder of the Solidarity Alliance of People who Use Drugs–a harm reduction outreach service which originated in Ottawa and currently operates in Hamilton. Kayla’s commitment to advocating for people who use drugs is in honor of her father who she lost to an overdose during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Kayla has a MA in Sociology, focusing her studies on the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the drug toxicity crisis in Canada. Kayla is the producer of the 2021 documentary “My Dad, Ian”, where she uncovers the worsening drug toxicity crisis in Canada through the stories of those most impacted by it.

Selected quotes:

“Being a kid of somebody who used drugs definitely shaped a lot of what I do. … Harm reduction isn’t a profession for me, it’s a personal act of survival. … This is not a career choice for me. I didn’t get to choose to be a harm reduction worker. I was born into this role.”

“There was nothing that anyone could tell me about my dad and his drug use that would make me look at him in a negative light. And I feel if he didn’t use drugs, and he didn’t die of an overdose, like I would not have gone to school for what I went to school for. I would not have become who I am today.”

“Right now, we are witnessing the downfall of harm reduction [in Canada, and elsewhere]. Everything’s closed. Programs are being slashed. People are painting PWUD as dangerous, instead of deserving of care. And so, stigma is rising, access to care is shrinking, and people are dying. … We are in this crisis because the government’s choosing violence over care. … For the future of harm reduction, we must return to peer leadership and radical community care. … We must refuse to let them erase us. … We deserve to have our stories told while we’re still here to tell them.”

“I wish there was somewhere we could go where we would not have to worry about getting in trouble for wanting to get high. A world where getting high and experiencing an alternative reality was not illegal, that is all I wish for. … I would like to be able to use drugs without worrying about if I’m going to die.”

FULL INTERVIEW (ENGLISH):