Sterling Prize 2023: Outspoken advocate for those who use drugs awarded SFU’s Sterling Prize

Nicole Luongo is the 2023 recipient of the Nora and Ted Sterling Prize in Support of Controversy for her support and commitment to fighting for those who are stigmatized and marginalized for using drugs, as well as her progressive approaches to drug policy, which have drawn criticism.

Luongo is a systems change coordinator with the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition (CDPC), which has collaborations with researchers in SFU’s Faculty of Health Sciences. In her role, she advances education and advocacy in support of a legislative framework that would make all psychoactive drugs legal, safe, and government-regulated.

Additionally, Luongo strongly advocates for the abolition of involuntary institutionalization, which is a practice that permits healthcare providers to detain and admit people to hospital against their wishes. Although this coercive approach to treatment has long been utilized across the country, it has been expanding in some regions to include people who use illegal drugs. Those who criticize involuntary treatment point to its lack of evidence for alleviating distress or bringing about durable change, and they note that institutionalization of any kind correlates with overdose fatalities, especially when involuntary. 

“We as a society need to recognize that people are different and just because someone is engaging in 'deviant’ behaviour or behaviour that looks anomalous, it’s not inherently indicative of illness,” she explains. Luongo continues, “But we’ve been trained to bifurcate people into healthy and sick categories and to respond accordingly... What I’d love to see is a world that is built to be accommodating to a diversity of experiences.”

Luongo was awarded the Sterling Prize and delivered a lecture on her work and advocacy alongside guest speakers on Tuesday, November 21 at the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue’s Asia Pacific Hall in Vancouver.