CANADIAN SAFE-INJECTION SITE TO REMAIN OPEN

VANCOUVER, British Columbia -- British Columbia's top court on Friday
rejected an attempt by the Canadian government to close North
America's first safe injection site for drug users.

The site, where people can inject illegal drugs with clean needles
under a nurse's supervision, has operated since 2003 under a temporary
exemption. It was opened as part of a harm-reduction plan to tackle an
epidemic of HIV-AIDS and drug overdose deaths.

The exemption was scheduled to end in 2008, but a trial court allowed
it to remain open. The Conservative government appealed Justice Ian
Pitfield's ruling last year that allowed Insite, as the site is known,
a constitutional exemption from Canadian drug laws.

In the May 2008 ruling, Pitfield said Insite -- operated by the
Portland Hotel Society in conjunction with the Vancouver Coastal
Health Authority -- provided important health care resources to addicts.

The British Columbia Court of Appeal rejected the federal government's
bid to overturn the lower court's ruling that said Insite provided a
needed medical service.

The three-member appeals court panel, which was split in its ruling,
said Insite is a health facility and falls under provincial and not
federal Canadian jurisdiction.

"Like palliative care, it is a form of harm reduction with benefits
for both the patient and the community," said Justice Carol Huddart in
the split decision. "The lure of safe injection gets those addicts
into Insite so health care may be delivered."

David Thomas, a spokesman for Health Canada, said that while the
federal government respects the court's decision, it is disappointed
with the outcome.

Thomas said the government is reviewing the decision carefully. He did
not indicate whether the government planned to appeal to the Supreme
Court of Canada.

"Until this review is complete, it would be inappropriate to speculate
on future action on the part of the Government of Canada," said Thomas.

Insite spokesman Mark Townsend said the ruling means "chronic
addiction is not a death sentence."

Insite sits in the middle of Vancouver's notoriously squalid Downtown
Eastside, a neighborhood riddled with addicts, prostitutes and people
carrying conditions such as HIV-AIDS and hepatitis C.

Insite opened in September 2003 under the approval of the former
federal Liberal Party government. That approval made it exempt from
drug possession and trafficking laws.

Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV-AIDS, said the decision sends a clear message that Prime Minister
Stephen Harper should abandon "his draconian, ideologically motivated
public health policy-making."

Montaner, who is also president of the International AIDS Society,
said he has had discussions with officials in Montreal, Toronto,
Victoria, B.C., and San Francisco about opening clinics modeled after
Insite.

"There is tremendous interest in a number of cities around the world
based on the fact that not only have we piloted this initiative but
the supervised injection site is the best studied in the world," he
said.

Insite supervises about 500 injections a day. Addicts shoot up at 12
booths with mirrors on the walls so nurses on a raised platform can
see them.

There have been about 1,200 overdoes since Insite opened. No one has
died.