On May 15, the City’s Drug Policy Program (DPP) posted a new page on its website and entered the network of podcasters across Canada and around the world.

The DPP’s foray into podcasting represents an effort to reach out to a broader audience and add greater depth to the discussion around the Four Pillars approach to drug policy.

The DPP is the first City of Vancouver site to offer a regular podcast.

DPP Coordinator Donald MacPherson noted that the Four Pillars Drug Strategy website is already among the most popular on the City’s site. Website tracking software has shown the site attracts thousands of visitors from across Canada and around the world. “With podcasting, we’re providing another way to share information about various aspects of drug policy in Vancouver. We already offer a lot of written information so podcasting offers us the opportunity to bring conversations with those active in various aspects of drug policy to listeners.”

Podcasts are regularly scheduled audio pieces that are posted on the web. The term “podcast” was created by combining parts of the words “iPod”, Apple’s version of the personal audio MP3 listening device, and “broadcast”.

MacPherson said that as podcasts tend to appeal to a younger demographic, “we have a hunch our podcasts may help to attract a somewhat younger audience to our website.”

"We already offer a lot of written information so podcasting offers us the opportunity to bring conversations with those active in various aspects of drug policy to listeners.” Donald MacPherson, Drug Policy Program Coordinator

The first DPP podcast offered Vancouver Superintendent of Schools Chris Kelly’s closing remarks from the Mayor’s Four Pillars Coalition Meeting last March. Other podcasts have highlighted the contents of a crack kit, outlined eight stages of regulation, between the criminalization and legalization of drugs, and examined various aspects of Toronto's approach of drug policy.

The DPP’s podcasts are added to the site on a regular cycle with a new podcast posted every second Thursday. Old podcasts are archived on the site. Users may click on each podcast link to listen to a specific podcast. Or, they may follow the link to subscribe to the DPP’s podcasts for free in iTunes, which means that each new podcast will be delivered automatically to each subscriber’s iTunes account.