Matthew is an International Board member with International Network of Health and Hepatitis in Substance Users, and a drug culture advisor with ChangeMark Research and Evaluation. He was previously the program manager with the Canadian Association of People Who Use Drugs. His freelance writing has appeared in publications including The Conversation, CATIE, Doctors Nova Scotia, Policy Options and The Coast. Matthew was also on the 64th Canadian delegation to the Commission on Narcotic Drugs. He is a current drug user and a formerly incarcerated person.

Juls Budau is a research advisor for the School of Population and Public Health at UBC. She has seven years of experience in front-line harm reduction services, is completing an MSW with a thesis on prescribed stimulant safe supply, and is an OAT patient.

Dr. Thomas Kerr, PhD, is a Professor in and the Head of the Division of Social Medicine in the Department of Medicine at the University of British Columbia and is the Director of Research at the BC Centre on Substance Use (BCCSU). Dr. Kerr brings over 15 years of clinical experience working with a range of populations, including people who use substances and people living with HIV. His primary research interests involve substance use, harm reduction and health policy and service evaluation. His long history of involvement in healthcare issues in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside includes ground-breaking work on peer-driven interventions, needle exchanges, safe supply and supervised consumption sites. Dr. Kerr has also worked in a number of settings internationally, including in Thailand, Argentina, Australia, France, the US, Russia, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.