RIP Steve Luke

Thanks for being a good listener Steve.
Love you

Edith.

Fucking hospital system, they should be bloody charged with manslaughter. I enjoyed Steve's honesty and intergrity, even though we didn't always agree and crossed swords a few times. He was a sincere and good man and this website will be a poorer place without him.
Dixie

I'm actually crying here. It's been an intense few days and this is a terrible loss for Steve's whānau, close friends, and all us of that knew him as a gentle, thoughtful, unfailingly kind man, a good listener, a good articular, a good communicator, a life-long activist in many important causes and projects.

On Indymedia, I always envied Steve his ability to patiently and reasonably work through an issue, even with trolls and hotheads, always adding something new and different to the discussion, and refusing to be drawn into fighting instead of comparing.

Ki te hunga mate, kua haere ki tua o te ārai, haere, haere, haere mai rā.

Strypey

I didn't know Steve, but was enjoying his presence on IndyMedia and looking forward to meeting him in person. I'm sad that that won't happen. My condolences to his family and friends,

Sam Buchanan

Never met the brother but appreciated his work and his words very much. Steve Luke. Respect.

Duncan Eddy.

RIP comrade.

Alastair Reith.

I knew Steve a little and was very grateful for his help towards my thesis study (and of course the wine and chat!). Only recently, he attained the title of Doctor after successfully defending his PhD thesis about the creation of the Christchurch Needle Exchange.

It is profoundly sad and ironic that Steve of all people may have died due to a health system stuff-up. He would be one of the first to get involved in trying to prevent such a thing happening again.

RIP Steve.

This sucks. I enjoyed the conversations we had Steve. I know my mum will miss you heaps
Love,
Daniela

and Canterbury University just made him a doctor!

What did the post mortem show? He may have had a pre-existing health condition. Half of trauma victims die in the first hour, nearly all in the first 48 hours at most. Hospitals can't hang onto apparently well people for days in case the unexpected happens. In fact, staying in hospital can cause other problems like deep vein thrombosis or cross-infection.
That said, it was a really sad loss to the activist and wider community. My condolences to all who knew Steve.
Ken

I hope Steve knew how much he was valued by others. His death was an awful surprise, and I'm sure he'll be well missed. In addition to being a genuine nice guy, he was one of those rare people who consistently thought 'outside the square' and had an outstanding ability to turn academic-speak and complex ideas into plain english, and then communicate them well. As well as that, he was no snob either, and that makes his loss just that bit harder to think about. My condolences to his family and close friends.
Paula

I bumped into Steve a few times because of a common interest in the drug policy reform area. First when he convened a seminar for visiting LEAP speaker, Jack Cole, at the University of Canterbury, when no-one else would. Also shared a video conference with Steve speaking to the Health Select committee in Wellington about amendments to the Misuse of Drugs Act. Steve also participated in a very heated public meeting at Brighton about BZP and "NOs" shops. A rare thing, someone who thinks in great depth, their *own* thoughts and speaks out in support of them. It is very sad to lose someone like Steve who successfully blended his academic background with grass-roots activism.
Brandon Hutchison

You always looked ready to roll in your leather trench.

Like many of the people here I only met Steve a couple of times, he seemed to be a very nice and very well thought person, from what I read here there was more to Steve than I ever realised - he was such a strong campaigner.

Full respect Steve, RIP

I met steve through his willingness to help me too. Steve wrote me a letter to the judge about a drug charge that I was subsequently discharged without conviction. I met him again at Uni and was inspired to continue in my own drug studies and was grateful to have him trail blaze the way.
What a sudden and untimely end to a great person who clearly will be missed. Like many others I am in shock and unable to attend today at his service but my thoughts are with his family and friends.

J'nette Saxby

Steve's page at Canterbury University can be found here:

http://www.soci.canterbury.ac.nz/research/thesis/thesis-sl.shtml

His thesis can be found at:

http://ir.canterbury.ac.nz/handle/10092/1038