TWO MORE INTERVENORS JOIN INJECTION SITE APPEAL

VANCOUVER - A B.C. Court of Appeal judge decided Thursday to allow
two more intervenors at a pending appeal involving Insite, the
supervised injection site that has been allowed to remain open for
another year.

Appeal Court Justice Mary Saunders allowed the applications for
intervenor status from the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, whose
employees work at Insite, and the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation.

A third application brought by the B.C. Civil Liberties Association
was not opposed. The association was earlier granted intervenor status.

The federal government, which is seeking to shut down Insite, opposed
the applications of Vancouver Coastal Health and the Dr. Peter AIDS Foundation.

The Dr. Peter Centre has been providing, since 2006, a supervised
injection site for some of its 300 clients, some of whom are homeless
or HIV-positive.

Unlike Insite, it does not have a Health Canada exemption and takes
the view that it is not necessary because it is not part of the kind
of scientific study that Insite is involved in.

Insite's primary contractor, PHS Community Services Society, and two
drug users took the federal government to court, arguing that closing
the site would breach the constitutional right to life and security
of people who use the site.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield ruled last May that the
supervised injection site should be allowed to remain open for a
year, even without a federal exemption from current drug laws.

The judge ruled that Canada's drug laws are unconstitutional when
they are applied to addicts using a supervised-injection site.

Pitfield said the possession law "prohibits the management of
addiction and its associated risks at Insite. Instead of being
rationally connected to a reasonable apprehension of harm, the
blanket prohibition contributes to the very harm it seeks to prevent."

The federal government is appealing the ruling. The appeal is
scheduled for next April.

Insite, which sees about 600 to 1,100 users daily, has operated in
the Downtown Eastside since 2003 under an exemption from the federal
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.