INSITE RULING COULD SET PRECEDENT FOR COUNTRY: JUSTICE

Lawyer for Federal Government Tells Supreme Court That the
Conservatives Have Not Decided Whether to Shut Down Facility

The legal battle over Vancouver's controversial supervised injection
site could lead to similar sites popping up across the country, a
Supreme Court justice told a hearing into the future of Insite.

Legal arguments over the supervised injection site ended Thursday
with Justice Marshall Rothstein suggesting the case could set a
precedent for the entire country, and a federal lawyer saying the
Conservative government hasn't decided whether it wants to close the facility.

Insite provides a haven for addicts to inject drugs using sterile
needles under a nurse's supervision.

The Downtown Eastside facility's future is in the hands of the
Supreme Court after the government appealed two lower court rulings
against it that ruled Insite fell under provincial jurisdiction.

Lawyers for the federal government argued that it, not the B.C.
government, has the right to decide whether to allow the
eight-year-old Insite to continue to operate, saying that the federal
Criminal Code trumps provincial health care responsibilities.

"The only question is: What are the consequences to the addict?" said
Justice Ian Binnie.

"The focus here is a particular facility that ... by reason of being
shut down, forces people onto the street."

However, federal lawyer Robert Frater said the government has not
decided to shut down Insite. He said that public comments that former
health minister Tony Clement made about Insite were misinterpreted to
mean that he had decided already to shut it down.

Insite has a Health Canada exemption that permits it to operate in
contravention of criminal drug laws. In 2008, the Conservatives
refused to renew the exemption.

Frater said Clement held off making a decision because there were
proceedings before the court and no decision has been made to date.

"It was never dealt with," Frater said. "If and when it has to be
dealt with, [the minister] will give it due process."

Rothstein suggested that if the court rules in favour of the site's
continuing existence, similar sites could sprout in other cities.

"If you're successful here, there could be Insites all over the
country," Rothstein told an Insite lawyer during the morning session.

Research has shown Insite reduces the number of drug-related deaths
in the area.

Research also has found that supervised injection sites in general
contain the spread of HIV/AIDS, reduce public disorder in the
surrounding areas and help addicts enter detox and other treatment programs.

Lawyers supporting Insite repeatedly talked about the statistics, but
the federal government has asked the court to ignore that research in
deciding who has jurisdiction over the facility.