Pubdate: Tue, 30 Sep 2008 Source: Victoria Times-Colonist (CN BC) Copyright: 2008 Times Colonist Contact: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/letters.html Website: http://www.canada.com/victoriatimescolonist/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/481 Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?142 (Supervised Injection Sites) SAVING THE CITY FROM ADDICTION At first blush, a court challenge that argues for a heroin addict's right to shoot up in public looks like another demand to surrender our city's downtown to the addicts. Lawyer Katherine Tyhurst is arguing that her client, Wayne Charters, had his charter rights violated when police arrested him in a downtown parking lot as he was about to inject morphine into his arm in June 2006. Anyone who has chanced upon a discarded needle, or observed addicts furtively getting their fixes in downtown alleys, might wonder what mischief Tyhurst is condoning. On closer examination, however, bringing this matter before the courts has the potential to force action on an urgent issue that has paralyzed our politicians. Every rational person would agree that shoppers, tourists, children, business owners -- or anyone else who has a right to be downtown -- should not be subjected to the sight of addicts shooting up. Exactly what must be done to prevent or even discourage such flagrant drug use isn't so straightforward, and there is certainly no consensus. Yet it's pretty clear the status quo isn't working, as evidenced by Victoria's increasing homeless population, many of whom are addicts. One philosophy for dealing with addiction is to set the legal bar higher by making penalties for possession of illegal drugs even stiffer. That might theoretically remove more drug abusers from the streets at the cost of building more prisons. Whether such an approach would reduce addiction doesn't seem likely, though, given how prisoners have historically encountered little difficulty obtaining drugs. Another approach is to recognize that addiction is an illness and not a crime. In a ruling this spring regarding Insite, Vancouver's safe-injection site, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield indicated that the courts are coming around to that position. Our law against drug possession "contributes to the very harm it seeks to prevent," the judge wrote. Federal Health Minister Tony Clement has appealed the decision. In doing so, the federal Conservative government is at odds with B.C.'s Liberal government, which is fighting to keep Insite operating, arguing that the delivery of health services is within provincial jurisdiction. The issue, though, is much more than a turf war over a safe-injection site. Even proponents of Insite argue that it cannot operate in a vacuum and must be part of a multi-pillar approach to dealing with drug addiction. While it might look as though lawyer Tyhurst is seeking to make it easier for addicts to shoot up, her actual objective is to make it easier for addicts to get the help they need. It's difficult to argue with that goal. If it takes a ruling by a senior court, even the Supreme Court of Canada, to force our lawmakers to act, one way or another, then let's hear the arguments in court. Otherwise, through the paralysis of our politicians, we will simply end up surrendering our downtown to the addicts. And they will never get the help they need. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake