VANCOUVER — A British Columbia Supreme Court judge has stayed trafficking convictions and ruled part of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act is invalid after two activists were convicted of selling to people in order to reduce the harms of toxic drugs.

Justice Catherine Murray ruled Tuesday that sections of the act are unconstitutional, tossing out convictions against Jeremy Kalicum and Eris Nyx who founded the compassion club known as the Drug User Liberation Front.

Murray found the act infringes upon the rights guaranteed under Sections 7 and 15 under the Charter, although she has suspended the invalidity finding for six months to give Parliament time to implement a plan that would allow for a non-medicalized safer supply program to operate.

Kalicum and Nyx were convicted of trafficking last year after admitting to buying pure drugs on the dark web, then selling them to the club’s members.

Murray’s ruling said that running such a safer-supply program was precisely what the applicants were doing and that formed the basis of the criminal charges against them.

She said the applicants in this case have borne the burden of bringing a successful constitutional challenge, doing a public interest service at considerable cost to themselves.

“I think you should be very proud of yourselves, and it’s people like you who make a difference and you just did. So, go do great things. I have no doubt that you will,” Murray told Kalicum and Nyx.

Murray said the defect in the legislation needs to be addressed with some urgency.

“It has been over 11 years since the toxic drug crisis was declared a public health emergency. It remains an emergency. More than 16,000 British Columbians have died from toxic drugs since then,” her ruling said.

The compassion club reduced the harms associated with the toxic drug crisis and didn’t negatively impact the community or public safety, the decision said.

There is no legal source of drugs available for the non-medicalized safer supply program, it said.

It said the government should be given “full opportunity to craft its own response to the issues identified in this ruling.”

The existing legislation is capable of a range of responses that address the defects, including legislative changes and regulatory reform, Murray said in the decision.

Murray did not read her full judgment in court but concluded her remarks by lauding Kalicum and Nyx for the personal risks they took in their work.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 29, 2026.