Garth Mullins | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Alma mater | University of Victoria, London School of Economics |
| Occupation(s) | Journalist, podcaster |
| Organization | Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users |
| Known for | Drug activism, podcasting |
| Awards | The Hillman Prize (2020) |
| Website | www |
Garth Mullins is a Canadian radio producer, author, activist, methadone user, [1] and musician. He is the host of the Crackdown podcast and a board member of Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.
His podcast won The Canadian Hillman Prize in 2020.
Mullins grew up in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories in the 1970s. [2]
He was bullied in school about his albinism. [3] [2] During high school he worked in banking and construction; after high school he worked in a mine in Northwest Territories. [2] Being blind [3] was a barrier to employment opportunities, prompting him to return to studies at the University of Victoria. [2] While studying, he hosted a radio show called The War Measures Act and took heroin for the first time at the age of 19. [2] After graduating from the University of Victoria, he studied political sociology at the London School of Economics, while writing articles for the Vancouver Sun . [2]
Mullins has hosted the monthly [4] Crackdown podcast since 2019. [1] His team won The Canadian Hillman Prize in 2020. [5]
A previous intravenous user of heroin, [5] Mullins is a user of methadone. [4] He speaks about his own use of drugs on the Crackdown podcast hoping to inprove public education. [4] He serves on the board of directors of the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users. [6] Mullins describes how he sees the war on drugs as still affecting people in contemporary times. [1] He is an advocate for the legalisation of street drugs, [6] and has campaigned against the planned expansion in scope of Canada's Medical Assistance in Dying permissibility to include people with disabilities. [3]
Mullins performs as a musician in the band Legally Blind. [7] [5]
Mullins' first book, Crackdown: Surviving and Resisting the War on Drugs, was published by Random House Canada on April 15, 2025 [8] He was interviewed by Globe and Mail reporter, Andrea Woo, at the Vancouver Writers' Fest on April 16, 2025. Their discussion focused on: "a radical reimagining of our approach to drug use, [leading] us to envisage a system that helps rather than punishes." [9]
