Abstract
North America’s only supervised injection facility, Insite, opened its doors in September of 2003 with a federal exemption as a three-year scientific study. The results of the study, evaluated by an independent research team, showed it to be successful in engaging the target group in healthcare, preventing overdose death and HIV infections while increasing uptake and retention in detox and treatment. The research, published in peer-reviewed medical and scientific journals, also showed that the program did not increase public disorder, crime or drug use. Despite the substantial evidence showing the effectiveness of the program, the future of Insite came under threat with the election of a conservative federal government in 2006. As a result, the PHS Community Services Society (PHS), the non-profit organization that operates Insite, launched a legal case to protect the program. On 30 September 2011, Supreme Court of Canada ruled in favour of Insite and underscored the rights of people with addictions to the security of their person under section 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms (Charter of Rights). The decision clears the ground for other jurisdictions in Canada, and perhaps North America, to implement supervised injection and harm reduction where it is epidemiologically indicated. The legal case validates the personhood of people with addictions while metaphorically unchaining them from the criminal justice system.
Highlights
The PHS initiated the case at the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2008 to protect the program from closure by a conservative federal government
The only intervener was the British Columbia Civil Liberties Association. Despite their role in co-managing Insite, Vancouver Coastal Health (VCH) counseled our organization not to turn to the courts to protect the program and refused to provide any formal assistance for the PHS to legally defend it
The first theme related to the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments and essentially argued that the operation of Insite falls under the jurisdiction of the Province of British Columbia
Summary
The PHS initiated the case at the Supreme Court of British Columbia in 2008 to protect the program from closure by a conservative federal government. The finding of this fact, based on the scientific and medical evidence before the court, established that a supervised injection facility helps to prevent disease and death. Justice Pitfield understood that while Insite is not traditional treatment, it is, important healthcare: “While users do not use Insite directly to treat addiction, they receive services and assistance at Insite which reduce the risk of overdose that is a feature of their illness, they avoid risk of being infected or of infecting others by injection and they gain access to counselling and consultation that may lead to abstinence and rehabilitation.
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