The Supreme Court of Canada says British Columbia’s safe-injection site for addicts can stay open.
Supporters of the site argued that closing the facility would violate the rights of addicts living in one of the country’s most-desolate neighbourhoods.
The federal government argued the facility fosters addiction and runs counter to its tough-on-crime agenda.
In April 2011, a new study concluded that Vancouver’s supervised injecting facility was saving lives. The research found the Insite clinic, which is the first of its kind in North America, has helped reduce the number of fatal overdoses in Vancouver’s notorious Downtown Eastside by 35 per cent.
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Insite has been entangled in a political battle with the Conservative federal government for years. A ruling by the B.C. Court of Appeal in 2010 stated the clinic fell under provincial jurisdiction and that federal officials did not have the authority to shut it down. The Harper government appealed the decision and, on September 30, 2011, Canada’s top court ruled 9-0 against the federal government’s effort to close the facility.
Insite opened in September 2003 as a three-year scientific trial. The facility has since added a detox centre above the facility and records an average of 600 injections per day.
View our timeline interactive of Insite’s political battle by clicking on the presentation below.
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