The usual suspects will have a cow over
this ruling, but that's just an added bonus.
Supreme Court ruling opens doors to drug injection clinics across Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada has opened the door to supervised drug injection clinics across the country in a landmark decision on Friday that ordered the federal government to stop interfering with Vancouver’s controversial Insite clinic.
The Court was persuaded by evidence that drug addicts are considerably safer administering their own injections under medical surveillance rather than obtaining and injecting hard drugs on the streets of the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside.
In its 9-0 decision, it said the federal government has the jurisdictional right to use criminal law to restrict illicit-drug use – but that the concerns it cited in an attempt to close Insite were “grossly disproportionate” to the benefits for drug users and the community.
“During its eight years of operation, Insite has been proven to save lives with no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada,” the Court said. “The effect of denying the services of Insite to the population it serves and the correlative increase in the risk of death and disease to injection drug users is grossly disproportionate to any benefit that Canada might derive from presenting a uniform stance on the possession of narcotics.”
“On future applications, the Minister must exercise that discretion within the constraints imposed by the law and the Charter, aiming to strike the appropriate balance between achieving public health and public safety,” the Court said in a 9-0 ruling.
“In accordance with the Charter, the Minister must consider whether denying an exemption would cause deprivations of life and security of the person that are not in accordance with the principles of fundamental justice. Where, as here, a supervised injection site will decrease the risk of death and disease, and there is little or no evidence that it will have a negative impact on public safety, the Minister should generally grant an exemption.”
Insite was launched in 2003 under a special exemption from prosecution. The federal government maintained the exemption until 2008, when the Harper government became disenchanted with the notion of providing addicts with legally sanctioned hard drugs.
The move forged an immediate alliance between drug users, the medical community and across the province’s political spectrum. A coalition of groups wasted little time in asking the Courts to clear the way for Insite to continue operating, and the dispute became a major source of tension between B.C. and the federal government.
The B.C. Health Ministry, which funds the facility, has cited numerous studies that showed Insite’s effectiveness in connecting vulnerable, at-risk injection drug users with health services. Vancouver Police also report no risk to the public from the site’s operation in the heart of the Downtown Eastside.
Here is the text of the ruling for those who care to read it.
