Canada's Safe Injection Site Given Reprieve By Courts

Insite, Vancouver, British Columbia's safe injection facility for intravenous drug users, has been granted a stay of execution, and possible full time salvation. On Tuesday British Columbia's Supreme Court ruled that users and staff be granted a permanent constitutional exemption from Canada's drug laws. In his ruling Judge Ian Pitfield declared that allowing addicts to inject drugs in a safe, medically supervised environment is a matter of sensible health care and they should not be under threat of arrest.

By declaring Insite a health care facility and exempt from drug laws, Justice Pitfield took the facility's fate out of the hands of the federal government. Under their current arrangement, Insite's temporary exemption from Canada's drug laws was due to expire on June 30, and it was widely suspected that the current government was preparing to close the facility down. In his ruling the judge gave the government until June 30, 2009 to redraft Canada's laws to reflect his findings, giving Insite at least a year's reprieve.

While there's no word from the government on whether it will appeal the decision or not, federal Health Minister Tony Clement's reaction made it clear they were preparing to close the facility. He said that the government was disappointed with the ruling, and they believed that the best way to treat addicts was to prevent them from "getting onto illicit drugs in the first place", and that they didn't consider it the best health outcome to keep people in a position to inject illicit drugs. He continued by saying the government is examining their options, and that the Justice Minister will announce whether or not they will appeal Judge Pitfield's ruling.

In his findings Judge Pitfield disagreed with the government's position on the role that Insite and other facilities of its kind has to play in the treatment of addiction. He said that while society can't condone addiction, in the face of its presence it has an obligation to manage it. According to his findings, addiction is an illness and he praised Insite's philosophy of harm reduction aimed at saving lives and reducing the spread of infectious diseases. While agreeing with the basic tenet that there is nothing to be said in favour of injecting controlled substances, he argued that there is much to said against denying health cares services that will cure addicts of their condition.

Article Author: Richard Marcus

Richard Marcus is the author of the recently published What Will Happen In Eragon IV? and has had his work published in print and on line all over the world. The not so long-haired Canadian iconoclast writes reviews and opines on the world as he sees …

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