INSITE DEFENDERS VOCAL AS FEDS SEEK APPEAL OF EXEMPTION

Renewed Court Battle This Week A Death Sentence For Addicts, Says NDP MLA

The federal government's decision to appeal a court ruling that
allowed the city's drug injection site to remain open amounts to
"bringing back the death penalty" for addicts, says the NDP MLA for
Vancouver-Mount Pleasant.

Jenny Kwan, who is seeking re-election in the May 12 provincial
election, made the comment at a press conference Monday outside the
B.C. Court of Appeal on Smithe Street.

"[Prime Minister] Stephen Harper is in essence bringing back the
death penalty for the drug addicted," she said on a plaza outside the
courthouse. "He's condemning them to a life of death and diseases."

Kwan's comments coincided with the federal government's first day in
the B.C. Court of Appeal. The government is attempting to overturn
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield's 2008 ruling.

In May 2008, Pitfield granted staff and users of the Insite drug
injection facility on East Hastings a constitutional exemption from
the country's drug laws.

At the time, the site was a month away from the expiry of its
operating licence under a contract with the federal government.
Insite has operated under an exemption from the country's drug laws
since September 2003. With Insite's closure looming last year, the
PHS Community Services Society and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug
Users initiated the case against the government. The PHS operates
Insite under a contractual agreement with Vancouver Coastal Health.

Several peer-reviewed studies published in international medical
journals concluded Insite is reducing the spread of infectious
disease and leading some addicts to counselling, treatment and housing.

Monday's press conference attracted about 35 supporters, addicts and
staff from the PHS, including Kwan's husband who is part of the
nonprofit's management team.

Kwan joined PHS executive director Liz Evans, Simon Fraser University
criminologist Neil Boyd, drug user Shelly Tomic and Patsy Thorpe,
whose daughter died of a drug overdose before Insite opened. In 2007,
the federal government commissioned Boyd to conduct research on
Insite and determine whether it had an impact on crime in the
Downtown Eastside.

The research ultimately "backfired" on the government because Boyd
found Insite has a valuable contribution to make, said Evans, who
introduced Boyd at the press conference.

Boyd discovered that Insite did not increase crime in "the
surrounding area." He said it was also clear that Insite prevents
overdose deaths and HIV infection--"a significant savings every year
that Insite is open."

He dismissed criticism that Insite promotes drug use. "It's really so
preposterous to imagine that you would go to Insite to enable
yourself to develop an injection drug use habit," Boyd said.

Tomic, 40, noted nobody has died of a drug overdose at Insite, where
staff conducted more than 2,300 "overdose interventions" since the
facility opened.

"I'm not a bad person, I just made some bad choices but that don't
mean I need to be condemned," said Tomic, who began injecting cocaine
at 19. "All I can say is that the Insite has saved my life."

Thorpe's 21-year-old daughter Alexandra died in the summer of 2002 of
a heroin overdose in a hotel room on East Hastings. Had Insite been
opened, Thorpe believes her daughter would have used the site and
possibly still be alive.

Thorpe, a nurse, pointed to the research showing that Insite is
making a positive difference for addicts. She chided Harper for
imposing "his ideological beliefs" instead of reviewing the science
of the research. "These three days in appeal court with Ontario
lawyers being flown here to fight something that Vancouverites and
British Columbians want, shows a blatant disregard," Thorpe said.

Insite is the only legal injection site in North America. The Dr.
Peter Centre at Comox and Thurlow has operated a three-stall
injection room since February 2002 for people with deteriorating
health caused by AIDS. The centre opened the injection room, without
an exemption from the federal government, after consulting with the
College of Registered Nurses and the centre's lawyer.

The Vancouver Police Department has no plans to shut it down.