Anton Basenko: Addiction, Advocacy, Ammunition

Crowdfunder Link: RIO CALLING Fundraising LinkA Ukrainian DJ who started injecting heroin at 16 to help him sleep, survived six overdoses on the streets of Kyiv, and became one of Europe's most forceful voices for harm reduction and HIV treatment access - now fighting to keep supply chains open during a war.SummaryAnton was born in Kyiv in 1986, just before the Soviet Union collapsed. His parents were public servants on small salaries, and while they worked to feed the family, the streets outside were filling with new substances flowing through newly opened borders. He started using drugs at 14. At 16, someone told him heroin would help him sleep between DJ sets. It did, briefly, and then it took over everything. For 11 years, Anton lived rough in Kyiv - sleeping in stairwells, dodging police who saw drug users as easy shakedown money, and surviving six overdoses.The door opened through a harm reduction programme. Someone offered him a clean needle, asked if he wanted a sandwich, and didn't start with the word "drugs." That encounter led to an HIV and hepatitis C diagnosis - and to the realisation that he wanted to transform his experience into work.Today, Anton is a founding member of the Ukrainian Network of People Who Use Drugs and one of the most prominent HIV and drug policy advocates in Eastern Europe. Since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, he and his peers have been using personal vehicles to transport HIV medications to regions where logistics companies refuse to go, and building online platforms so people can receive treatment by courier rather than attending destroyed clinics.Key Moments[01:18] Born in Kyiv, 1986 - growing up in the post-Soviet wild west, where the Iron Curtain opened to new freedoms and new substances simultaneously[05:57] Heroin as a sleeping pill - starting at 16 to manage exhaustion from DJing, and the moment the body realised it liked the euphoria too[07:04] Harm reduction vs. abstinence - why the 12-step model didn't fit, and the science that says success doesn't always mean stopping[08:03] The first harm reduction visit - being asked how he felt and whether he wanted a coffee, not lectured about his drug use[10:17] Eleven years as an ordinary street junkie - Groundhog Day on the streets of Kyiv, locked out of his parents' home, jumping at every sound in stairwells[12:02] Police and corruption - drug users as the easiest source of money for officers and doctors, and the threat of withdrawal behind bars[14:11] The dual diagnosis - HIV and hepatitis C, a positive test received as a death sentence, and the perverse logic of using more because you're dying anyway[16:43] War and supply chains - how the 2014 Crimea annexation and then Covid prepared Ukraine's HIV community for the 2022 full-scale invasion[19:36] Medication by courier - dismantling the old model of clinic-based collection, and community members driving HIV treatment through war zones in their own cars[22:23] If Ukraine falls - what Russian occupation would mean for harm reduction, opioid therapy, and the LGBTQ community, and why Anton believes it won't happenDedicationAnton remembers Egor, a childhood friend from the pioneer camps whose parents worked alongside his at the Ministry of Interior - one of the first people he lost to the heroin epidemic. He also remembers a brother and sister from his neighbourhood who both died of HIV-associated tuberculosis, leaving children behind.About AntonAnton was born in Kyiv in 1986. He is a founding member of the Ukrainian Network of People Who Use Drugs and a leading HIV and drug policy advocate in Eastern Europe. He is a DJ and a father, and takes one pill every morning at nine o'clock. He is the podcast's first Ukrainian guest.ResourcesUkrainian Network of People Who Use DrugsEurasian Harm Reduction AssociationTerrence Higgins TrustNational AIDS TrustIf you have been affected by the themes in this episode, support is available at tht.org.uk.Mentioned in this episode:RIO CALLING! Crowd-funderWe're taking over the feed for 'Rio Calling': six daily despatches from AIDS 2026, the world's biggest HIV conference. Each day Dan Glass and I will bring you the stories that matter most to people living with HIV and the people working to end it - straight from the conference floor in Rio. The wonderful folks at BHIVA have helped get us there, but there remains a funding gap. The rest is down to you. If you can chip in via the Crowdfunder link below, you'll be helping to put these six episodes in people's ears - and we'd be genuinely grateful. Thank you for listening, and for keeping this going.RIO CALLING Fundraising LinkThis podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podtrac - https://analytics.podtrac.com/privacy-policy-gdrp