BC injection site exempt from drug laws: Supreme Court

mission · Sep 30, 2011

Canada’s only health-care facility dedicated to supervised street drug injection is here to stay. Others are likely on the way.

That’s the opinion — and the desire — of health-care providers and politicians who celebrated Friday’s unanimous Supreme Court of Canada decision ordering reinstatement of a federal health act exemption that allows addicts to shoot up heroin, cocaine and other illegal substances at Insite, a controversial facility in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside neighbourhood.

The court dismissed the federal government’s appeal of a 2008 British Columbia Supreme Court ruling that found for two Vancouver drug users and the PHS Community Services Society, a charity that helps manage Insite. It is formally operated by Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH), the city’s public health-service provider.

The facility was opened “for scientific and research” purposes eight years ago, with a three-year exemption from Section 56 of the federal Controlled Drugs & Substances Act. The special permit, which was granted by the-then Liberal government, allowed users to bring illegal street drugs into the centre and inject themselves while under supervision.

The exemption was extended to 2008, at which time a new government, under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, indicated it would not support what it labelled a “failed experiment.”

The Conservative government position upset many health-care providers and Insite clients, who pointed to peer-reviewed research they said “proved” the supervised injection facility saves lives, by reducing the chances of fatal drug overdose and the spread of deadly disease.

Insite, they argued, also brings a measure of public order to a neighbourhood where open drug use and violent crime are all too common. The facility sees a daily average of 587 drug injections.

“The city and provincial government want it to stay open,” Friday’s Supreme Court decision reads.

“The issue is not whether harm reduction or abstinence-based programs are the best approach to resolving illegal drug use, but whether Canada has limited the rights of the claimants in a manner that does not comply with the Charter [of Rights & Freedoms].”

Ending Insite’s exemption, the court determined, “would have prevented injection drug users from accessing the health services offered by Insite, threatening their health and indeed their lives.”

Closing the facility would also contravene their right to life, liberty and the security of their person, prescribed in Section 7 of the Charter.

Supervised injection can now be fully recognized as a legitimate, effective component of harm reduction, itself a “standard of care” in the battle against drug addiction and the spread of infectious disease, said Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. “This is a great day. I’m thrilled.”

Dr. Montaner woke at 2 a.m. Friday and arrived at Insite’s doorstep four hours later to await the court decision. He was joined by dozens of other health-care workers, Insite supporters, staff members and clients. Volunteers served up pancake and sausage breakfasts to passersby, most of them residents of the Downtown Eastside.

The news from Ottawa came just before 7 a.m. People reacted with joy, cheering and hugged one another. Confetti bombs exploded, covering the sidewalk — and Vancouver Centre MP Hedy Fry’s hair — with glitter. A circle of aboriginal men drummed, while others burst into song.

“It’s up to other communities to now go through the exemption process” and seek to establish their own injection sites, said Dr. Montaner.

“My advice to [the federal government in] Ottawa is, ‘Let’s get on with the show.’ ”

He suggested supervised injections need not be restricted to facilities such as Insite, which operates in an environment of concentrated substance abuse that is unique in Canada.

“There is need for a portable facility,” he said. “Harm reduction should not be limited to a physical space. We need to move beyond that.”

Others agreed. Patricia Daly, VCH’s chief medical health officer, said supervised injection services “don’t have to be [in] fixed sites … They could be an added treatment option at other health-care sites.”

There is already such an example in Vancouver’s West End, where the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation has been supervising 15 to 20 street drug injections a day, with other services, for the past nine years.

“There may be more places in Canada that would opt for an Insite-type of response, while others might opt for our integrated model,” the foundation’s executive director, Maxine Davis, said Friday.

Philip Owen, the former Vancouver mayor, was instrumental in finding funding and support for Insite before it opened in 2003.

He’s been steadfast in his support since. On Friday, he was beaming.

“I was a little worried this morning, but the Supreme Court has done the right thing,” he said. “Now we can move on. I can think of five or six other cities in Canada that want something similar … Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, Regina, St. John’s.”

Mr. Harper expressed disappointment with the latest 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,” he said in Quebec City.

“When it comes to treating drug addiction, [the government’s preference is] 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 so-called harm reduction.”

But that preference is now out of fashion. “So-called harm reduction” has won the day.

Down at Insite, the party has ended and it’s business as usual.
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the mechanic · Oct 4, 2011

... an example of an arrogant court system that doesn't know its place in government. the courts should not have the power to override federal government legislation ...

... the role of the courts is to enforce law, not to violate the law ...

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BC injection site exempt from drug laws: Supreme Court

mission Full Member

the mechanic Active Member

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