Pubdate: Thu, 29 May 2008
Source: Standard Freeholder (Cornwall, CN ON)
Copyright: 2008 Osprey Media Group Inc
Contact:  http://www.standard-freeholder.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1169
Authors: James Keller, and Greg Joyce
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites)

FEDS 'DISAPPOINTED' IN DRUG RULING

The federal government is "obviously very disappointed"  with a
British Columbia court ruling striking down laws  prohibiting
possession and trafficking of drugs by  those accessing help at
supervised injection sites,  Health Minister Tony Clement said Wednesday.

The ruling, say some advocates and legal experts, could  prompt
injection-site proponents to try to launch  other, similar facilities
across Canada, though some  acknowledged it's likely the case will
have to survive  appeals before that can happen.

The B.C. Supreme Court ruling by Justice Ian Pitfield  effectively
granted a reprieve for Vancouver's  controversial injection facility
known as Insite.

And it drew Clement's ire.

"We disagree with the judgment," Clement bluntly told  reporters in
Ottawa.

"Our government believes that the best way to deal with  the health
issues of drug addicts is to offer treatment  and indeed to prevent
people from getting on to illicit  drugs in the first place."

He also strongly suggested the Conservative government  was always
opposed to the facility's continued  operation.

"We don't consider it the best health outcome to keep  people in a
position where they continue to use the  illicit drugs, to inject the
illicit drugs."

The ruling was greeted ecstatically by Insite  supporters, who mused
about the possibility of using  the ruling to open similar facilities.

"I think it opens the door to (try to lobby for more  facilities),"
Ann Livingston of the Vancouver Area  Network of Drug Users, said Wednesday.

"They (health authorities and the province) would be  chumps not to
open another injection site. It's clearly  what has shown to work. I
think they can open them  right now."

Lawyer Monique Pongracic-Speier, who represented the  group that runs
Insite in the B.C. Supreme court case,  said while the ruling won't
force governments to  provide similar sites, it will give health
authorities  and provinces the right to open them if they want.

"If another site that opened was operating in  substantially the same
way as this  supervised-consumption room, I can't see how there  would
be an argument against it."

The facility began as a pilot project and has been  allowed to
continue to operate because of exemptions  granted by the federal
government under a section of  the Controlled Drugs and Substances
Act.

The latest exemption was to expire June 30.

But the B.C. court ruling gives the federal government  until June 30,
2009 to try to fix the drug law. In the  meantime, Insite is exempt.

Clement said the federal government is "examining our  options" and
any decision to appeal would be announced  by Justice Minister Rob
Nicholson.

The judge wrote that denying access to the site ignores  the illness
of addiction and violates drug addicts'  right - enshrined in Section
7 of the Charter - to  life, liberty and security.

"While there is nothing to be said in favour of the  injection of
controlled substances that leads to  addiction, there is much to be
said against denying  addicts health-care services that will
ameliorate the  effects of their condition," he wrote.

"I cannot agree with Canada's submission that an addict  must feed his
addiction in an unsafe environment when a  safe environment that may
lead to rehabilitation is the  alternative."

B.C.'s chief medical health officer, Dr. Perry Kendall  called the
decision "very humane."

He discounted the possibility of pressure being put on  the province
to establish and fund more sites.

But he said the ruling "potentially removes one of the  inhibitions,"
which was that people were worried Insite  would be closed or users
and staff could face criminal  charges.

Victoria Mayor Alan Lowe said the provincial capital  wants to follow
Vancouver's lead and set up its own  supervised facility.

He said the ruling was promising.

"I think it's a huge victory for those who support harm  reduction
principles," Lowe said.

"If the federal government does not appeal this . . . a  safe
consumption site in Victoria could become a  reality sooner than we
had thought."
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MAP posted-by: Larry Seguin