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.