The Supreme Court of Canada will release their decision Friday on Vancouver’s safe injection site, Insite.
Insite is located on the city’s drug-riddled Downtown Eastisde, where thousands of addicts reside. It’s the only supervised safe injection site in North America.
The safe injection site is supported by Vancouver Coastal Health, the City of Vancouver and the provincial government, but the federal Conservative government led by Stephen Harper has been trying to shut it down for several years.
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Insite opened in 2003 under an exemption from the federal government, which was Liberal at the time. When the Conservatives swept into power in 2006, Insite was granted another exemption for further study. However, the federal government has said they do not support a further extension.
Lower courts have twice said that Insite reduces the number of fatal overdoses, street disorder and the spread of disease, and therefore should stay open. The federal government has appealed both of these rulings. Over 40 peer-reviewed studies have shown Insite is saving lives in the neighbourhood and saving taxpayers money over the long run.
The Supreme Court of Canada decision is expected Friday at 9:45 a.m. EDT.
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E-mail: peter.meiszner@globalnews.ca
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