COURT URGED TO BACK SAFE-INJECTION SITE

VANCOUVER - (CP)Two drug addicts and a group that runs Canada's only
safe-injection site have launched court action in an effort to
pre-empt any federal effort to close the place.

Shelly Tomic and Dean Wilson, along with the Portland Hotel Society,
which helps operate the facility, filed a statement of claim in B.C.
Supreme Court yesterday.

They argue that Insite provides a health service under provincial
jurisdiction so the federal government shouldn't play any role in its
future. And they say closing it would violate addicts' Charter rights
to "security of the person."

Insite opened four years ago as a pilot project in the Downtown
Eastside for intravenous drug users to inject their heroin and
cocaine with clean needles under the supervision of a nurse.

Addicts who get their fix at the site - instead of in back alleys and
the area's single-room hotels - can also get referrals to detox and
rehabilitation services.

But the future of Insite is in Ottawa's hands because it needs the
federal government to grant it an exemption from the Controlled Drugs
and Substances Act.

The exemption expires on Dec. 31, and federal Health Minister Tony
Clement has been noncommittal about whether it will be renewed.

Mark Townsend, director of the Portland Hotel Society, said the
continuing uncertainty is no way to operate a health service for
vulnerable people.

"It's not even funded by the federal government, it's 100 per cent
funded by the province, yet they get to give us an extension here and
there to create this endless kind of worry," Mr. Townsend said.

"We'd rather not be in court on this issue but what we really need is
just to get the clarification that, really, this is about health
care," he said.

The site is the only facility of its kind in North America.

Ms. Tomic, a 39-year-old with a long history of addiction issues,
said she got involved in the legal action because she's seen the
facility's positive effects first hand.

"A lot of people will end up dying if they shut it down because with
the fear of the police picking them up, they start [injecting] too
much just to get it in them before they're caught," said Ms. Tomic,
who was one of the first to use the facility.

Ms. Tomic said she's been taking methadone for about 10 months as
part of her treatment to withdraw from heroin.

And despite staying clean so far, she said she still visits Insite to
talk to the staff when she feels like relapsing.

Dean Wilson, the other addict named in the statement of claim,
credited Insite for keeping him and his two sons alive.

"This is gold-standard medicine," Mr. Wilson said. "Addiction is a
health issue.

"This is a life-saving measure down here. It may not be a life-saving
measure in [Toronto's] Rosedale or Mount Royal in Montreal but in the
Downtown Eastside, it is a life-saving measure."

Evan Wood, an epidemiologist at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in
HIV/AIDS, said 24 studies have pointed to Insite's benefits.

Since 2003, research published in top journals has stated the site
reduces public injections, overdose fatalities and the transmission
of blood-borne infections like HIV and hepatitis C, Dr. Wood said,
adding crime hasn't increased in the area despite initial fears.

"From a scientific perspective, I believe this is a health issue," he
said, adding he agrees with the court action.

"[Prime Minister] Stephen Harper has failed to show any leadership on
this issue and the fact that it's going to the courts now is not
surprising," he said.

"If the facility closes and somebody contracts HIV or dies of an
overdose and has a compelling argument that this wouldn't have
happened to them had the federal government not removed this service,
then I think that raises legal issues as well."

Monique Pongracic-Speier, one of three lawyers working on the case
for free, said her clients are merely asserting their constitutional
rights regarding the use of a facility that's helped them stay alive.

"After all, Insite is about saving lives. That's the bottom line."