SUPREMES TO HEAR FEDERAL GOV'T INSITE APPEAL

OTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to hear a federal
appeal of a lower-court ruling that allowed Insite - Vancouver's
supervised injection site for drug users - to stay open.

As is traditional, the Supreme Court didn't give reasons for granting
the federal government leave to appeal a B.C. Court of Appeal ruling
issued earlier this year.

That ruling upheld a lower court decision that permitted North
America's first supervised injection site to continue operating.

B.C. courts have ruled that healthcare services provided at Insite are
a provincial responsibility rather than a federal one, so it was not
necessary for them to pronounce on whether the facility had a
constitutional right to operate.

Since Insite opened seven years ago, there have been more than a
million injections at the site, and staff have intervened in 2,395
overdoses, preventing deaths. Scientists have stated in numerous
peer-reviewed journals that Insite saves lives, reduces transmission
of disease and connects people to treatment, health-care and support
services, while saving taxpayer dollars. But the clinic operates under
exemptions from criminal trafficking and possession laws that were
granted by Ottawa.

The exemptions permit the clinic to operate without its staff and
clients being prosecuted for trafficking or possession of controlled
substances.

Under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the federal government has
declined to grant further exemptions, and the clinic operators now
want to stay in business without exemptions.

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

- - Canwest News Service with files from The Province