VANCOUVER'S INJECTION CLINIC GETS SUPREME COURT BLESSING TO STAY
OPEN

OTTAWA--North America's lone supervised needle injection site Vancouver
won a constitutional reprieve from the country's top court, which
blasted the Conservative government for its "arbitrary" and moralistic
approach.

In a decision that sharply pits the court's view of a coherent drug
strategy against the Conservative government's, the Supreme Court of
Canada ruled 9-0 the health minister cannot deny a legal protection to
addicts and clinical health workers who would otherwise be penalized
by federal drug laws.

Faced with overwhelming evidence that medical supervision of
injections curbs infections and saves lives, the court granted the
InSite clinic, open since 2003, an immediate exemption under the
federal drug law to allow it to continue to operate.

It potentially opens the door to the establishment of new clinics
elsewhere in the country, though the court said there must be solid
evidence to support them.

The judges admonished the federal government, saying that in future
the power to grant exemptions for reasons of "medical, scientific or
public interest" must be exercised "within the constraints imposed by
the law and the Charter, aiming to strike the appropriate balance
between public health and public safety."

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq told the Commons the government would
"comply" with the ruling.

Asked to acknowledge the court's finding that InSite saves lives,
Aglukkaq retorted that "drugs kill people, too" -- a comment not
recorded in the official transcript, but later acknowledged by her
office.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Quebec City said he was
"disappointed" by the ruling, hailed by health workers, addicts and
the Opposition as a huge "victory."

But Harper made clear his view is unchanged.

"The preference of this government in dealing with drug crime is
obviously to prosecute those who sell drugs and create drug addiction
in our population and our youth, and when it comes to treating drug
addiction, to do so through programs rather than though the issues in
front of this court in terms of the so-called harm reduction. We'll
look at the decision, respect the decision and work within the decision."

Writing for the unanimous court, Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin was
blunt.

Supervised injection facilities "although politically contentious in
North America" operate successfully "in 70 cities in six European
countries, and in Sydney, Australia," McLachlin wrote.

"These sites are evidence that health authorities are increasingly
recognizing that health care for injection drug users cannot amount to
a stark choice between abstinence and forgoing health services.
Successful treatment requires acknowledgment of the difficulties of
reaching a marginalized population with complex mental, physical and
emotional health issues."

The high court said Ottawa's federal drug law is a valid exercise of
its criminal-lawmaking power. But the Conservatives flexed their
muscle in an "arbitrary" and "grossly disproportionate" way.

The judges said InSite has not had a negative impact on public safety
or public health. Drug trafficking and crime in downtown Vancouver
hadn't increased, nor had relapses by drug addicts, while lives had
been saved.

Backed by local police, the municipality and provincial government,
the supervised safe injection site "was the result of years of
research, planning and intergovernmental cooperation" and a model of
"cooperative federalism," the court concluded.

The judgment means InSite will continue to provide clean water and
equipment to drug users, along with nurses who supervise heroin
addicts who bring their own illegally obtained drugs and come to shoot
up safely. Addicts can get counselling and detoxification treatment on
the second floor at another clinic called OnSite.

Dean Wilson, a 55-year-old now-sober addict who helped launch the
court challenge in 2008, could hardly believe his ears.

"Guys, we did it," he cheered, pumping his arm in the air as cameras
streamed reaction live from the court to the Downtown Eastside.

Wilson, whose addiction is still being treated with methadone, urged
the Conservatives to drop their "ideological bent" and work to "make
sure that this kind of gold-standard medicine can be facilitated
across the country."

Advocates in Montreal and Toronto have lobbied for other sites, though
no formal proposals are currently before the federal government. Dr.
Julio Montaner said in Vancouver, "We don't know how many we need, but
certainly many are needed" across the country.

Dr. John Haggie, president of the Canadian Medical Association, said:
"There may be a really good case" for clinics in those cities, but
supervised injections are for the seriously ill.

"We would like to see it as part of a national strategy that involved
prevention, treatment, harm reduction and enforcement."

Haggie said flatly the Conservative strategy has not worked, but
British Columbia's approach does. "This has made a difference. People
are no longer dying in Downtown Eastside."

The Supreme Court did not give a free pass to anyone to set up a
safe-needle injection site, saying there must be solid evidence to
support it. The ruling said if circumstances at InSite change, it
could lose its exemption.