OTTAWA GOES TO COURT TO KILL SAFE-INJECTION SITE

Supreme Court Asked to Overturn Ruling Favouring Vancouver's Insite

(CNS) The federal government plans to ask the Supreme Court of Canada
to overturn a B.C. ruling that allowed a safe-injection site to remain open.

On Jan. 15, the B.C. Court of Appeal dismissed the government's
appeal, which allowed Insite, North America's only supervised
injection site, to remain open.

The appeal ruling allowed Insite, the first legal supervised
injection site in North America, to continue operating on East
Hastings in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside.

Insite was served notice yesterday that the Conservative federal
government plans to appeal the B.C. Appeal Court ruling, which was
handed down Jan. 15.

Mark Townsend, executive director of the Portland Hotel Society
Community Services, which runs Insite with Vancouver Coastal Health,
said he was disappointed by the plan to appeal.

"The courts have now ruled twice in favour of Insite," he said. "We
wish [Prime Minister] Stephen Harper would stop wasting court time
and the taxpayers' money and start helping to solve the drug problem
in our community."

The appeal court ruled that health-care services provided at Insite
are a provincial, not federal, responsibility, so it was unnecessary
to rule on the facility's constitutional right to exist. The ruling
upheld the trial decision in 2008 by B.C. Sup-reme Court Justice Ian Pitfield.

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said yesterday that the
government wants to overturn the B.C. rulings that allow the facility
to continue to operate.

"This case raises important questions regarding the doctrine of
interjurisdictional immunity and the division of powers between the
federal and provincial governments," he said.

"We recognize that injection drug users need assistance," he said.
"This is why our National Anti-Drug strategy focuses on prevention
and access to treatment for those with drug dependencies."

Nicholson said the aim is to get tough on "drug dealers and producers
who threaten the safety of our children and communities."

Since Insite opened in 2003, there have been more than 40
peer-reviewed academic papers, reports and studies published in
scientific medical journals testifying to its success.

The reports concluded Insite prevents overdose deaths, limits the
spread of disease, reduces public disorder and moves more people into
detox and addiction treatment, while saving taxpayer dollars.

Health Canada initially granted a three-year exemption under Section
56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to establish Insite as
a scientific research project in Vancouver. Researchers from the B.C.
Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS acted as evaluators of the operation.

While Insite received further extensions after Harper's Conservative
government was elected in 2006, the federal government has sought to
shut down the facility.

In 2008, the Portland Hotel Society and the Vancouver Area Network of
Drug Users launched a constitutional challenge of Ottawa's power to
close the facility.