Pubdate: Sat, 01 Oct 2011 Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU) Copyright: 2011 Canwest Publishing Inc. Contact: http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/letters.html Website: http://www.montrealgazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274 Author: Peter O'Neil, Postmedia News Cited: Supreme Court Judgment: http://csc.lexum.org/en/2011/2011scc44/2011scc44.html SUPERVISED-INJECTION SITES GET OK Ottawa - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he is disappointed but will comply with Friday's Supreme Court of Canada ruling that has thrown open the door in British Columbia and across the country to new supervised-injection sites, dubbed "shooting galleries" by conservative critics. Canada's top judges, in a sharp rebuke of one of Harper's key law-and-order planks, said the government's attempt to shut down North America's only nurse-supervised injection site for drug addicts violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The nine judges agreed with studies validating the Insite clinic's role in reducing overdose deaths and disease, and found that the government's move to shut it down threatened the health "and indeed, the lives" of addicts who otherwise risked disease and infection using shared needles. A 2008 B.C. Supreme Court decision was correct in deciding that "Insite is effective in reducing the risk of death and disease, and has no negative impact on the legitimate criminal law objectives of the federal government," Chief Justice Beverley Mclachlin, who is from B.C., wrote on behalf of her eight colleagues. The ruling ordered an immediate exemption that will allow the facility to remain open. Harper has always opposed "harm reduction" approaches, such as clean needle exchanges and injection sites, preferring tough enforcement and prevention programs. "We're disappointed, we have a different policy," Harper told reporters in Quebec City. "We'll take a look at the decision, but we will clearly act in respect and within the constraints of the decision." Harper said it is "premature" to speculate on the possibility of other cities establishing supervised injection sites. "Obviously, it is going to lead to some changes in federal policy in order to respect the decision. "The preference of this government in dealing with drug crime is obviously to prosecute those who sell drugs and create drug addiction in our population and in our youth. "And when it comes to treating drug addiction, to try and do so though programs of prevention and treatment, rather than through the issues that were in front of this court in terms of socalled harm reduction." The decision, made public shortly before 7 a.m. in Vancouver, sparked an emotional reaction among the hundreds of supporters who gathered outside the facility. "We won," someone shouted when the ruling appeared on a screen at the entrance to the Insite injection site, prompting cheers, hugs and supportive horn-honks from drivers passing by the crowd on Hastings St. "This is a celebration," said Vancouver Councillor Ellen Woodsworth, who spent 10 years working in the poor Down town east side. Marliss Taylor, manager of Streetworks, an Edmonton agency that delivers nursing and outreach harm reduction services, welcomed the court ruling and said she hopes the Alberta government will consider its implications. "Currently, people inject in very unsafe places and that puts them and the community at risk," Taylor said in a statement. "We will be examining our options for the future, because we certainly believe that people who use drugs need to receive appropriate infection prevention and health interventions. "In the light of the Supreme Court ruling, which effectively gives the provinces the right to take the lead in developing safe-injection sites, we're confident that Alberta will consider all the evidence in determining what programs are likely to be effective and beneficial here." The judges said the federal government's opposition to Insite was violating the rights of the facility's users and staff, who faced potential arrest on drug possession charges, under section seven of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees "life, liberty and the security of person." And it warned the federal government to take such rights into consideration if other communities across Canada apply for a similar Controlled Drugs and Substances Act exemption. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard R Smith Jr.