SUPERVISED-INJECTION SITES GET OK

Ottawa - Prime Minister Stephen Harper said he is disappointed but
will comply with Friday's Supreme Court of Canada ruling that has
thrown open the door in British Columbia and across the country to new
supervised-injection sites, dubbed "shooting galleries" by
conservative critics.

Canada's top judges, in a sharp rebuke of one of Harper's key
law-and-order planks, said the government's attempt to shut down North
America's only nurse-supervised injection site for drug addicts
violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

The nine judges agreed with studies validating the Insite clinic's
role in reducing overdose deaths and disease, and found that the
government's move to shut it down threatened the health "and indeed,
the lives" of addicts who otherwise risked disease and infection using
shared needles.

A 2008 B.C. Supreme Court decision was correct in deciding that
"Insite is effective in reducing the risk of death and disease, and
has no negative impact on the legitimate criminal law objectives of
the federal government," Chief Justice Beverley Mclachlin, who is from
B.C., wrote on behalf of her eight colleagues.

The ruling ordered an immediate exemption that will allow the facility
to remain open. Harper has always opposed "harm reduction" approaches,
such as clean needle exchanges and injection sites, preferring tough
enforcement and prevention programs.

"We're disappointed, we have a different policy," Harper told
reporters in Quebec City. "We'll take a look at the decision, but we
will clearly act in respect and within the constraints of the decision."

Harper said it is "premature" to speculate on the possibility of other
cities establishing supervised injection sites. "Obviously, it is
going to lead to some changes in federal policy in order to respect
the decision.

"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 in our youth.

"And when it comes to treating drug addiction, to try and do so though
programs of prevention and treatment, rather than through the issues
that were in front of this court in terms of socalled harm reduction."

The decision, made public shortly before 7 a.m. in Vancouver, sparked
an emotional reaction among the hundreds of supporters who gathered
outside the facility.

"We won," someone shouted when the ruling appeared on a screen at the
entrance to the Insite injection site, prompting cheers, hugs and
supportive horn-honks from drivers passing by the crowd on Hastings
St.

"This is a celebration," said Vancouver Councillor Ellen Woodsworth,
who spent 10 years working in the poor Down town east side.

Marliss Taylor, manager of Streetworks, an Edmonton agency that
delivers nursing and outreach harm reduction services, welcomed the
court ruling and said she hopes the Alberta government will consider
its implications.

"Currently, people inject in very unsafe places and that puts them and
the community at risk," Taylor said in a statement.

"We will be examining our options for the future, because we certainly
believe that people who use drugs need to receive appropriate
infection prevention and health interventions.

"In the light of the Supreme Court ruling, which effectively gives the
provinces the right to take the lead in developing safe-injection
sites, we're confident that Alberta will consider all the evidence in
determining what programs are likely to be effective and beneficial
here."

The judges said the federal government's opposition to Insite was
violating the rights of the facility's users and staff, who faced
potential arrest on drug possession charges, under section seven of
the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees "life, liberty
and the security of person."

And it warned the federal government to take such rights into
consideration if other communities across Canada apply for a similar
Controlled Drugs and Substances Act exemption.