SCC ruling: Insite to stay open

[Black Dog]

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.

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.

-link

Nice to see science and reason win the day.

[CitizenX]

Nice to see science and reason win the day.

Not much to say, I agree completely.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALe1e_e7_bw

Edited September 30, 2011 by CitizenX

[Bryan]

Add this to the long list of leftard activist decisions by Canada's judicial system.

The government has a responsibility to provide benefits for criminals? What's next? Hotel rooms for rapists?

[CitizenX]

Add this to the long list of leftard activist decisions by Canada's judicial system.

The government has a responsibility to provide benefits for criminals? What's next? Hotel rooms for rapists?

Why does science scare you?

[Bryan]

Why does science scare you?

Drug addicts are scientists now?

[CitizenX]

Drug addicts are scientists now?

????

Overdose deaths in Vancouver's troubled Downtown Eastside have dropped by more than a third since the creation of Insite, the neighbourhood's supervised injection clinic, according to a study in the British medical journal The Lancet.

Isn't saving human lives always the most important thing?

Edited September 30, 2011 by CitizenX

[Sir Bandelot]

Add this to the long list of leftard activist decisions by Canada's judicial system.

The government has a responsibility to provide benefits for criminals? What's next? Hotel rooms for rapists?

The only thing criminal about heroin addicts is that they are harming themselves. Prison is not the kind of rehab they need.

From what I understand, Insite also provides them with a resource to quit. It's a good first step, and the law must embrace and expand on this approach, encouraging them to seek treatment, rather than merely punitive measures.

[dpwozney]

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 so-called “Supreme Court of Canada” judges are aiding and abetting unlawful activity.

[Black Dog]

The so-called “Supreme Court of Canada” judges are aiding and abetting unlawful activity.

Well duh.

Thing is, though, the law's kinda dumb.

[Black Dog]

The government has a responsibility to provide benefits for criminals? What's next? Hotel rooms for rapists?

A better analogy would be hotel rooms for chronic public masturbators.

[capricorn]

Add this to the long list of leftard activist decisions by Canada's judicial system.

The unelected overruling the elected. Nice system we have here.

The government has a responsibility to provide benefits for criminals?What's next?

Coming soon...safe injection sites in all prisons and drug recovery houses, with complimentary government issued drugs of your choice.

[CitizenX]

The arguments for and against Vancouver’s supervised injection site

Supporters say:

It saves lives:

There have been no overdose deaths at Insite since it opened in 2003. On average, nearly 600 injections occur daily at the site and last year alone there were more than 200 “overdose interventions” by Insite staff who provide oxygen or drugs to users who are in danger of overdosing. A paper published in the Lancet in April of this year found fatal overdoses within 500 metres of Insite decreased by 35 per cent after the facility opened compared to a decrease of nine per cent in the rest of Vancouver.

Earlier this month, the B.C. Coroners’ Service warned of a spike in overdose deaths resulting from potent heroin being sold throughout the province and urged drug users to use community services such as Insite “where possible.” B.C. public-health officials and the British Columbia Nurses’ Union support the facility.

It serves as a bridge to detox and treatment:

Insite was conceived of as part of a four-pillars approach – those being harm reduction, prevention, treatment and enforcement – modelled on similar programs that jurisdictions such as Switzerland and Germany pursued in the 1990s.

By offering a clean, safe, non-judgmental environment to shoot up, the reasoning goes, Insite allows drug users to connect with other services, whether that be treatment for a drug-related abscess or dental care.

Last year, Insite staff made more than 5,000 referrals to other social and health agencies, including 458 admissions to Onsite, a neighbouring detox facility that opened in 2007 and recorded a “program completion rate” of 43 per cent in 2010.

Supporters say supervised injection facilities should be seen as just one piece of a bigger puzzle in treating drug addiction and its related toll on society.

It benefits public health and the broader community:

Among the many studies published on Insite are papers that conclude the clinic has not led to an increase in drug-related crime, is not a negative influence of those seeking to stop drug use and has resulted in a drop in public injections in back alleys and doorways.

Studies have also reported declines in dangerous behaviour, such as sharing needles, and a related decrease in HIV infections. The Vancouver Police Department supports the facility, which studies have shown has resulted in fewer discarded needles in neighbourhood streets.

In fighting to keep Insite open, the provincial government argues that the health benefits of the facility should trump jurisdictional issues, saying in written submissions to the court that British Columbians have a “visceral” memory of hundreds of addicts dying needlessly in flophouses and on the street before Insite was opened.

Those who want to see the site closed maintain:

Insite’s operation is an affront to federal control:

When Insite opened, it obtained a three-year exemption from Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act from Health Canada. That exemption was extended twice, until June 30, 2008. When the federal government declined to extend the exemption, Insite supporters launched a court challenge. The B.C. Supreme Court and the B.C. Court of Appeal supported B.C.’s right to run the clinic on health grounds. The federal government appealed.

Federal prosecutors say Ottawa needs to maintain control over drug policy and that giving B.C. control over Insite would open the door to a fragmented, patchwork of rules and regulations across the country.

The legal wrangle will zero in on the constitutional conundrum posed by Insite – the federal government has authority over criminal law and the promotion of health and safety, but provinces decide how health care can be delivered.

Governments should not facilitate drug use:

Despite the research studies backing Insite and its harm-reduction approach, there is still profound discomfort for many with any facility that gives addicts a green light to inject illegal drugs and flout the law. Governments, they argue, should not be facilitating illegal, dangerous activities. “The state has no constitutional obligation to facilitate drug use at a specific location by hardcore addicts, the mildly addicted, frequent users or occasional users,” federal prosecutors Robert Frater and W. Paul Riley said in written submissions to the court.

There have been arguments that money spent on Insite would be better spent on services such as treatment and that government’s support of supervised injection sites sends a mixed message to young people who might be considering illicit drug use.

Supervised injection sites do nothing to deter drug use or help drug addicts:

Part of the federal government’s argument is that drug laws are not an unreasonable restriction on individuals’ liberty. “Unsafe injection or, for that matter, consumption by injection at all, is a choice made by the consumer,” the federal prosecutors say in their brief to the Supreme Court.

There are also arguments that supervised injection sites are a magnet for drug dealers and predators, and that public safety demands that illegal drugs be tightly controlled.

[Bryan]

The only thing criminal about heroin addicts is that they are harming themselves. Prison is not the kind of rehab they need.

From what I understand, Insite also provides them with a resource to quit. It's a good first step, and the law must embrace and expand on this approach, encouraging them to seek treatment, rather than merely punitive measures.

Insite is facilitating and propagating criminal activity. Not just by the addicts, but through the production and distribution of heroin by criminal organizations. Organizations that are in turn involved in all kinds of other crimes related to that business including burglaries and murders.

[CitizenX]

Insite is facilitating and propagating criminal activity. Not just by the addicts, but through the production and distribution of heroin by criminal organizations. Organizations that are in turn involved in all kinds of other crimes related to that business including burglaries and murders.

Data Please

Why is always the same ol' same ol'. Liberal side shows proof for their argument, and the Conservative expresses gut feelings

Edited September 30, 2011 by CitizenX

[waldo]

Insite is facilitating and propagating criminal activity. Not just by the addicts, but through the production and distribution of heroin by criminal organizations. Organizations that are in turn involved in all kinds of other crimes related to that business including burglaries and murders.

did not realize Insite sourced via criminal organizations - cite please.

[Black Dog]

Insite is facilitating and propagating criminal activity.

Strictly speaking, yes, they are facilitating illegal activity. But propagating? Noone is going to start shooting smack simply because InSite exists.

Not just by the addicts, but through the production and distribution of heroin by criminal organizations. Organizations that are in turn involved in all kinds of other crimes related to that business including burglaries and murders.

Indeed, if only there were some way the government could cut these organizations off from the money they get from illegal drugs. Hmmm...

[cybercoma]

complimentary government issued drugs of your choice.

What a ridiculous assertion. Insite does not provide drugs.

[Bryan]

Data Please

Does Insite produce their own heroin (and cocaine, and morphine)?

[cybercoma]

Insite is facilitating and propagating criminal activity.

That's not true at all. They're not involved in the distribution of drugs. Addicts are going to use the drugs regardless of whether Insite exists or not. Insite does the exact opposite, actually. It has been shown to reduce the amount of criminal activity in the areas that it's open and it has proven effective in getting people the help they need to get off drugs. So you are entirely wrong in your claim.

[Bryan]

Why is always the same ol' same ol'. Liberal side shows proof for their argument, and the Conservative expresses gut feelings

Nothing of the sort has happened in this thread. It's the Liberal hug a thug gut feeling that are ruling supreme here. Relevant facts are completely devoid in your argument.

[CitizenX]

Does Insite produce their own heroin (and cocaine, and morphine)?

Data Please....Gut feelings don't count

[cybercoma]

Does Insite produce their own heroin (and cocaine, and morphine)?

If you want to play Socrates, does Insite increase the sale of heroin and morphine on the black market? The studies say they actually reduce it.

[capricorn]

Insite is facilitating and propagating criminal activity. Not just by the addicts, but through the production and distribution of heroin by criminal organizations. Organizations that are in turn involved in all kinds of other crimes related to that business including burglaries and murders.

I agree. As I understand, when addicts enter the Insite facilities, they've already bought their drugs on the street. Who knows what's in the crap they bought with their income from prostitution and petty crime.

Resources should be concentrated on drug counseling and recovery programs. And I mean lots of resources, much more than we are spending now.

Drug injection sites look to me like a bandaid solution and don't do much to transform addicts into productive citizens. What safe drug injection sites do is make the do-gooders feel good.

[Bryan]

That's not true at all. They're not involved in the distribution of drugs. Addicts are going to use the drugs regardless of whether Insite exists or not. Insite does the exact opposite, actually. It has been shown to reduce the amount of criminal activity in the areas that it's open and it has proven effective in getting people the help they need to get off drugs. So you are entirely wrong in your claim.

Really? So nobody is doing drugs inside the building? Those hundreds of overdoses never happened then?

[Sir Bandelot]

It's my understanding that Insite does not provide the drugs. Is that correct?

Committing crimes such as stealing, break and enter, assault etc. are separate crimes and must still be dealt with. Those other issues involving criminal organizations, gangs, are secondary effects and are empowered by prohibition itself. Again, if we just look at the drug user and their situation, this idea is preferable to just throwing people in jail. Decades of history substantiate the fact that this isn't working.