Pubdate: Wed, 10 Feb 2010
Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC)
Copyright: 2010 Times Colonist
Contact: http://www2.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html
Website: http://www.timescolonist.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481
Author: Neal Hall, Canwest News Service
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/Topic/Insite

OTTAWA GOES TO COURT TO KILL SAFE-INJECTION SITE

Supreme Court Asked to Overturn Ruling Favouring Vancouver's Insite

(CNS) The federal government plans to ask the Supreme Court of Canada 
to overturn a B.C. ruling that allowed a safe-injection site to remain open.

On Jan. 15, the B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed the government's 
appeal, which allowed Insite, North America's only supervised 
injection site, to remain open.

The appeal ruling allowed Insite, the first legal supervised 
injection site in North America, to continue operating on East 
Hastings in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Insite was served notice yesterday that the Conservative federal 
government plans to appeal the B.C. Appeal Court ruling, which was 
handed down Jan. 15.

Mark Townsend, executive director of the Portland Hotel Society 
Community Services, which runs Insite with Vancouver Coastal Health, 
said he was disappointed by the plan to appeal.

"The courts have now ruled twice in favour of Insite," he said. "We 
wish [Prime Minister] Stephen Harper would stop wasting court time 
and the taxpayers' money and start helping to solve the drug problem 
in our community."

The appeal court ruled that health-care services provided at Insite 
are a provincial, not federal, responsibility, so it was unnecessary 
to rule on the facility's constitutional right to exist. The ruling 
upheld the trial decision in 2008 by B.C. Sup-reme Court Justice Ian Pitfield.

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said yesterday that the 
government wants to overturn the B.C. rulings that allow the facility 
to continue to operate.

"This case raises important questions regarding the doctrine of 
interjurisdictional immunity and the division of powers between the 
federal and provincial governments," he said.

"We recognize that injection drug users need assistance," he said. 
"This is why our National Anti-Drug strategy focuses on prevention 
and access to treatment for those with drug dependencies."

Nicholson said the aim is to get tough on "drug dealers and producers 
who threaten the safety of our children and communities."

Since Insite opened in 2003, there have been more than 40 
peer-reviewed academic papers, reports and studies published in 
scientific medical journals testifying to its success.

The reports concluded Insite prevents overdose deaths, limits the 
spread of disease, reduces public disorder and moves more people into 
detox and addiction treatment, while saving taxpayer dollars.

Health Canada initially granted a three-year exemption under Section 
56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to establish Insite as 
a scientific research project in Vancouver. Researchers from the B.C. 
Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS acted as evaluators of the operation.

While Insite received further extensions after Harper's Conservative 
government was elected in 2006, the federal government has sought to 
shut down the facility.

In 2008, the Portland Hotel Society and the Vancouver Area Network of 
Drug Users launched a constitutional challenge of Ottawa's power to 
close the facility.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom