Pubdate: Fri, 01 May 2015
Source: Montreal Gazette (CN QU)
Copyright: 2015 Postmedia Network Inc.
Contact:  http://www.montrealgazette.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/274
Author: Giuseppe Valiante
Page: A6

PROVINCE APPROVES INJECTION SITE PLAN

But Ottawa Has Final Say on Exemption

The Quebec government has given the green light to a project 
introducing facilities in the Montreal area where drug users can 
legally and safely inject themselves, but it's still far from 
becoming a reality.

Final approval for so-called safe-injection sites rests with the 
federal government, which has strongly criticized offering drug users 
legal spaces to consume illegal substances.

In order to operate a safe injection site, the federal government 
must grant an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.

In 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled Ottawa's refusal to renew 
the exemption for Vancouver's injection site - the only one of its 
kind in Canada - was unconstitutional because it deprived people 
access to potentially life-saving medical care.

In response, the Conservative government tabled strict new 
legislation on safe-injection sites giving the federal health 
minister discretion to approve an application only under exceptional 
circumstances, and only after applicants fulfill a long list of 
onerous obligations.

The bill is currently being debated in the Senate.

Health Canada said in a statement that it doesn't publicly comment on 
applications for such exemptions and there is no timetable for a 
decision on permits for four Montreal sites - three located in 
community organizations and a fourth that would be mobile.

Canada's only legal operating safe-injection site - called Insite - 
has been in Vancouver since 2003.

Lucie Charlebois, Quebec's junior public health minister, said 
safe-injection sites reduce the risk of drug overdoses and offer 
other social and health benefits.

Montreal is also in favour of the project. Catherine Maurice, 
spokeswoman for Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre, said the safe-injection 
file "is a priority for the mayor."

She said the federal government's approval should be a formality and 
while the city acknowledges it can't be given a definitive date for 
when it can go ahead with the project, "we won't wait for the federal 
government forever."

If the project gets the go ahead from Ottawa, the first injection 
site will be in Cactus Montreal, a community organization that works 
to prevent blood-born and sexually transmitted infections and which 
created North America's first needle-exchange program in 1989.

The chairman of Cactus Montreal's board of directors, Louis Letellier 
de St-Just, said Thursday he is happy with the development but 
doesn't think the federal government will share in his enthusiasm.

"They closed the rules really tightly," he said. "And I think the 
bill runs against (the spirit) of the 2011 Supreme Court decision."
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom