Pubdate: Tue, 29 Apr 2008
Source: Globe and Mail (Canada)
Copyright: 2008, The Globe and Mail Company
Contact:  http://www.globeandmail.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/168
Author: Rod Mickleburgh
Cited: Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users http://www.vandu.org
Cited: PHS Community Services Society http://www.communityinsite.ca
Referenced: Health Canada report: 
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/pubs/sites-lieux/index_e.html
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Insite (Insite)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/hr.htm (Harm Reduction)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?136 (Methadone)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/topic/Downtown+Eastside
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/people/Tony+Clement

OPERATORS GO TO COURT TO PROTECT B.C. INJECTION SITE

VANCOUVER -- With just two months to go before its doors may be 
closed by the Conservative government, operators of North America's 
only supervised injection site for users of illegal drugs have gone 
to court to stay open.

The facility saves lives, reduces harm to drug addicts and increases 
their motivation to seek treatment, lawyers argued in B.C. Supreme 
Court yesterday. As a result, they said, federal drug laws against 
possession of heroin and cocaine should not apply there.

"The criminal approach leads to death. Harm reduction leads to life," 
said John Conroy, representing the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users.

The controversial injection centre, known as Insite, has been 
operating under a special judicial exemption from prosecution, but 
that is scheduled to run out at the end of June.

Site advocates fear it will be not be renewed by the Tories because 
of ideological opposition to condoning the use of illegal drugs, even 
at a medically supervised safe injection site.

"We are now heading into the beginning of May, and there is no 
indication from the government what it intends to do," lawyer Monique 
Pongracic-Speier said.

"The clinic has been operating in an atmosphere of continual 
uncertainty ... with no chance for forward planning," she told Mr. 
Justice Ian Pitfield. "There is an obvious and urgent need to decide 
the case now."

In Ottawa, as he announced $3-million in spending on anti-drug ads, 
federal Health Minister Tony Clement gave no hint when a decision 
would be made on Insite's fate.

"That has to be made by the 30th of June. We're not making it today," 
he told reporters.

Ms. Pongracic-Speier was responding in court to the federal 
government's attempt to have the matter put over to a full trial, 
rather than have it decided during a 10-day hearing on the basis of 
expert affidavits and submissions.

VANDU and the Portland Hotel Society, co-operator of the site, are 
asking for a declaration that it would be unconstitutional to apply 
federal drug laws against Insite users because the facility is a 
place for medical care, and therefore, under provincial jurisdiction.

However, in a possible reflection of what the Conservatives may 
eventually decide, federal lawyer John Hunter questioned those who 
trumpet the site's benefits.

"The harm-reduction philosophy is not universally endorsed by experts 
on addiction. It may well have harms," Mr. Hunter said.

He also played down the generally positive findings of an expert 
advisory committee appointed by Health Canada to assess the pros and 
cons of the site.

According to the lawyer for the federal Attorney-General, the 
experts' report found no direct evidence Insite reduced drug overdose 
fatalities, curbed HIV infection or reduced public disorder.

Mr. Hunter further noted that fewer than 5 per cent of all illegal 
drug injections in the Downtown Eastside occurred at the 12-stall 
site, where users inject heroin or cocaine in a supervised environment.

"It's very difficult to assess the evidence just on paper," he said.

He said there was a need to dampen the enthusiasm of proponents for 
the site, which numerous peer-reviewed studies have found to lessen 
deaths from drug overdoses, reduce the risk of transmitting HIV and 
enhance the desire to seek detox programs without increasing crime in the area.

Mr. Hunter urged Judge Pitfield to find that "these drugs are 
dangerous and harmful to persons who inject them, and that 
self-injection is not a medical use of those drugs, but a person's 
use of those drugs."

The judge said he would rule on the Attorney-General's call for a 
full trial after hearing evidence in the form of affidavits and other 
written material presented over the next two weeks. "I am mindful of 
the urgency of this case, with the exemption due to expire at the end of June."

Ms. Pongracic-Speier began by submitting an affidavit from a drug 
addict who said her regular contact with the staff at Insite had 
prompted her to begin methadone treatment after 13 years of using heroin.

The addict listed numerous benefits from having a safe site for 
injections, including the freedom to take one's time.

"If you're in the alley, you're always looking over your shoulder for 
the police ... At Insite, it's much less stressful. You can find a 
good vein and go slowly. You don't OD and your needles don't break." 
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MAP posted-by: Richard Lake