Pubdate: Fri, 18 Mar 2016
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2016 The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Andrea Woo
Page: S4

INSITE GETS GREEN LIGHT FOR NEXT FOUR YEARS

Health Canada has given Insite, North America's first government 
sanctioned supervised injection site, the green light to continue 
operating for at least four more years, a marked departure from 
direction under the previous Conservative government, which actively 
sought to shut it down.

The move comes as cities across both Canada and the United States 
push for their own supervised injection sites in response to soaring 
drug overdose rates. Fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that 
emerged as an illicit street drug in Canada several years ago, has 
been linked to a growing number of fatal overdoses here. Meanwhile, 
neighbours to the south are grappling with a full-blown heroin epidemic.

Until now, Health Canada granted Insite only one-year exemptions at a 
time and the criteria for each renewal is nearly as onerous as the 
initial application.

B. C. Health Minister Terry Lake said he is encouraged by Health 
Canada's voluntary move.

"It reflects an understanding of the tremendous value the facility 
has, and signals that Insite is an important part of health services 
within the Vancouver community in the eyes of the federal 
government," he said in a statement.

In Canada, a prospective supervised injection site operator must 
receive a Section 56 exemption from the Controlled Drugs and 
Substances Act. It's the same section of the law that researchers who 
use controlled substances for scientific purposes must use.

The previous Conservative government, which fought Insite to the 
Supreme Court of Canada and lost, made this exemption process more 
difficult by introducing the Respect for Communities Act last year, 
requiring a host of additional requirements, such as extensive 
community consultation and letters of approval from various bodies.

Supporters of the harm-reduction service viewed the new law as a 
deliberate effort to make it much more difficult, if not impossible, 
to open or maintain a site.

The four-year exemption, announced Thursday, means Insite can operate 
without reapplying until 2020. In January, Health Canada also granted 
a two-year exemption to Vancouver's Dr. Peter Centre, an HIV/ AIDS 
clinic that has offered the service to registered clients in a small- 
scale setting since 2002.

Vancouver Coastal Health, which operates Insite in partnership with 
the PHS Community Services Society, also plans to submit an exemption 
application for three or four other integrated supervised injection 
sites, with an end goal of offering the service as part of standard 
nursing practice.

While supervised-injection service remains a lightning rod for 
controversy - critics say they condone dangerous and illegal drug use 
- - the conversation does appear to have taken a more pragmatic tone lately.

Earlier this week, Toronto's medical health officer called for three 
small-scale supervised injection sites in that city, proposing them 
for existing health clinics where harm-reduction supplies are already 
distributed.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom