Insite wins at the BC Court of Appeal -- to stay open during Vancouver Olympics (1/2)

Webpage: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/todays-paper/Appeal+court+allows+safe+inject...

Pubdate: Saturday, January 16, 2010
Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC)
Contact: sunletters@vancouversun.com
Website: http://www.vancouversun.com/index.html
Author: Neal Hall
Note: Judgment is available online at: http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/CA/10/00/2010BCCA0015.htm

Appeal court allows safe-injection site to stay open

By Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed a federal government appeal of an exemption granted InSite, Vancouver's supervised-injection site, which means the facility -- the first of its kind in Canada -- will remain open.

The federal government is expected to appeal Friday's ruling, a split 2-1 decision that carries an automatic right of appeal, to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said he strongly supports the ruling and the continued operation of InSite to improve the lives of drug addicts.

"With this second consecutive decision in favour of InSite, I hope the federal government will drop its legal efforts so that we can go back to focusing on InSite for what it is -- a harm-reduction facility that saves lives and improves health outcomes for those living with addictions," the mayor said in a statement.

Former Vancouver mayor Philip Owen also praised the ruling and predicted similar safe-injection sites will appear in other Canadian cities.

"We're going to have half a dozen of these across the country," he told a cheering crowd of InSite supporters gathered outside the Vancouver Law Courts on Friday.

"It improves public health and improves public order," said Owen, an

early supporter of a safe-injection site in order to reduce overdose deaths and the spread of AIDS and other infectious diseases.

InSite, which opened in September 2003, was originally allowed to operate under a temporary exemption to federal drug-control laws. The exemption was extended twice and was scheduled to end in 2008, but a B.C. Supreme Court judge granted a permanent exemption, ruling that InSite should remain open because it provided a needed medical service.

The federal health minister and attorney-general of Canada appealed that decision.

Dr. Julio Montaner, president of the International AIDS Society, called Friday's court ruling "a tremendous victory for [those of] us involved in the Downtown Eastside. It sends a very clear message to [Prime Minister] Stephen Harper and his draconian policies."

New Democrat MP for Vancouver East Libby Davies told the rally that the federal government should not waste further time and money on an appeal.

Friday's decision was greeted with applause by InSite supporters crowded into the normally staid courtroom, where Chief Justice Lance Finch read a summary of the ruling. The court also found that "The supervision of drug injection comes within the province's powers over health under Section 92 of the Constitution Act, 1867, and the province has exercised those powers in a number of statutes related to the operation of InSite. As a result, the provincial and federal exercises of power overlap."

The lengthy court judgment is available online at:

http://www.courts.gov.bc.ca/jdb-txt/CA/10/00/2010BCCA0015.htm.

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