Pubdate: Fri, 30 Sep 2011 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2011 The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168 Author: Kirk Makin B.C. DRUG INJECTION CLINIC CAN STAY OPEN, SUPREME COURT RULES The Supreme Court of Canada on Friday overrode federal objections to a controversial supervised drug injection clinic in Vancouver and ordered that it remain open. The Court said that the Harper government cannot refuse a special exemption allowing the clinic to operate without fear of prosecution for possessing and trafficking in hard drugs. The landmark ruling was a life-saving triumph for the Insite injection site, where drug users self-inject drugs under the supervision of health professionals. It resolves a major source of tension between B.C. and the federal government, and appears to pave the way for other supervised injections clinics to open in cities where drug addiction is a social and medical problem. Insite was launched in 2003 under a special exemption from prosecution. The federal government maintained the exemption until 2008, when the Harper government became disenchanted with the notion of providing addicts with legally sanctioned hard drugs. The move forged an immediate alliance between drug users, the medical community and across the province's political spectrum. A coalition of groups wasted little time in asking the Courts to clear the way for Insite to continue operating. Supported by the B.C. attorney-general, the coalition were successful in persuading the B.C. Supreme Court and the British Columbia Court of Appeal to find Insite immune from the criminal prosecution under the doctrine of "inter-jurisdictional immunity." By allowing the province to override federal anti-drug concerns, the judgment constitutes a slap in the face to the Harper government in a case had evolved into a major constitutional brawl between the two levels of government. "It is a classic battle between the federal and provincial governments over the limits of two powers - criminal law and health care - which are mutually exclusive but have obviously conflicted in this case," said Carissima Mathen, a law professor at University of Ottawa. Prof. Mathen said the federal government gambled by wading into battle with the B.C. government, risking the erosion of its criminal law powers. The Court was faced with two questions. Did the withdrawal of Insite's exemption violate the Charter of Rights by exposing users to greater harm by forcing them to purchase street drugs? Is it unjust to prosecute addicts who have no real choice of avoiding criminal behaviour? Nervous medical staff had arrived for work at the clinic today uncertain whether its doors would close forever. Medical staff, addicts and groups supporting the clinic had made it clear that if the Court were to rule against it, they would bombard the Harper government with demands to let Insite remain open. "Stephen Harper will have an important choice before him," said one of the plaintiffs in the legal action, Shelly Tomic. "He can choose life - or he can choose death for thousands of Canadians suffering while struggling to overcome their addiction." The B.C. Health Ministry, which funds the facility, has cited numerous studies that showed Insite's effectiveness in connecting vulnerable, at-risk injection drug users with health services. Vancouver Police also report no risk to the public from the site's operation in the heart of the Downtown Eastside. Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/Aids, said on Thursday that health professional are able to access hard-to-reach drug users at the facility to enlist them in aggressive anti-HIV treatment. He noted that B.C. is the only province in Canada where the rate of HIV infection is going down. "So, from our perspective, the benefits of Insite to those infected and to the community at large are irrefutable," he said. "We have every expectation that we will continue this kind of service for the long haul." - ----------------------------------- More related to this story * The arguments for and against Vancouver's supervised injection site http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/the-arguments-for-and-against-vancouvers-supervised-injection-site/article2019113/ * Who's using at Vancouver's supervised injection site http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/whos-using-at-vancouvers-supervised-injection-site/article2019054/ * Insite's next battle: supervised inhalation http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/insites-next-battle-supervised-inhalation/article2021966/ - -- Drugs & Democracy Info Institute (TNI) De Wittenstraat 25 | 1052 AK Amsterdam (The Netherlands) Tel +31-20-6626608 | Fax +31-20-6757176 http://www.tni.org/drugs http://www.druglawreform.info/ http://www.undrugcontrol.info/ Twitter: mailing list https://lists.tni.org/mailman/listinfo/dd-world - --- MAP posted-by: Keith Brilhart