Insite Wins! Supreme Court backs safe injection site

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Insite Wins! Supreme Court backs safe injection site

by murray bush - flux photo

Insite Wins! Supreme Court backs safe injection site

Former mayor and Insite supporter Philip Owen

Donald MacPherson, architect of the Four pillars Plan

Donald MacPherson and longtime Insite supporter Kerstin Stuerzbecher

VANCOUVER - The Supreme Court has unanimously ruled in favour of the Insite safe injection site. The decision came early this morning from Ottawa that Insite is exempt from federal drug laws.

A crowd of more than 300 was on hand outside Insite to cheer the decison at about 7am local time.

The ruling demands an immediate and open-ended exemption for Insite - blocking federal government attempts to shut the facility on 'war on drugs' grounds. Supporters say that although the decision is specific to Insite, this should help open the way for similar health facilities across the country.

Today's ruling is the third against the Harper government's ideological efforts to close the site despite overwheming medial evidence supporting the health facility. The court's findings included that "Insite has been proven to save lives with no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada.”

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Comments

Makes me wish I was there,

Submitted by Sharon Kravitz on Fri, 09/30/2011 - 19:33.

Makes me wish I was there, thanks for the photo experience.

Finally some inspiring news!

Submitted by envious Montrealer (not verified) on Fri, 09/30/2011 - 19:53.

Finally some inspiring news! good to hear:)

This is Fabulous News! Just

Submitted by Denise (not verified) on Sat, 10/01/2011 - 03:16.

This is Fabulous News! Just curious did those other media sources highlight this great bit of news?!! Congratualtions to all!

Prohibition Sucks - The End!

Submitted by malcolm kyle (not verified) on Sat, 10/01/2011 - 06:37.

When we regulate something we do NOT automatically condone it's use; the regulations concerning alcohol and tobacco are there to protect us from the vast increase in criminality that would otherwise exist if these substances were prohibited.

Nicotine is the biggest killer of all known drugs, but it's sale is legally regulated. Now why is that? Alcohol Prohibition made cigarette smoking in the US a national habit. High on the evangelicals' hit list, second only to alcohol as a substance that had to be prohibited. In 1921, cigarettes were illegal in fourteen states, and anti-cigarette bills were pending in twenty-eight others. The prohibition of cigarettes, promoted by the very people who gave us the prohibition of alcohol, made cigarette smoking almost irresistible. As the experiment of Prohibition failed, the anti-cigarette laws fell. By 1930, they were legal almost everywhere; during Prohibition, the consumption of tobacco had nearly tripled.

A regulated and licensed distribution network for all mind altering substances would put responsible adult supervision in between children and premature access to drug distribution outlets (illegal street dealers). Regulated and licensed distribution would reflect and respect society's values, thus preventing children obtaining easy access to these dangerous substances. What we need is legalized regulation. What we have now, due to prohibition, is a non-regulated black market to which everybody has access and where all the profits go to organized crime and terrorists.

a place to do drugs legally,

Submitted by Justin Time (not verified) on Wed, 10/05/2011 - 15:11.

a place to do drugs legally, whoever thought we'd see the day?

but we have seen the day. and we have seen the controversy raised over such an establishment.

The government says that this is in the interest of the public. That this is a health and safety thing. And they even went as far as to say that it would be UNCONSTITUTIONAL to shut it down. Unconstitutional? really?

so how did something like this even come to be? to many drug addicts roaming the streets of vancouver f***ked up on everything from amphetamines to xanax, and a police force un able to handle this problem. ....so the government resorts to appeasment to handle such an issue? i guess if you cant beat em join em hey?

but to go as far as to rule unconstitutional on such an issue is appaling. when across the country, hundreds of kids lives change every day, because they got caught using marijuana. hundreds of thousands of tax payer dollars are spent every day prosecuting cases of minor importance (like a kid with 2 doobies) when, in vancouver kids can walk into this "Insite" establishment, shoot up there heroin, smoke there meth, and walk back out to join the world.

if you want to start using appeasement to deal with the war on drugs, why dont we start with something a little less sever, like marijuana. Monitor that, see how that goes, before we start throwin up little crack shacks on the streets of our big cities, for our big time drug users.

Thumbs up canadian government

Prohibition always makes matters far worse.

Submitted by malcolm kyle (not verified) on Sun, 10/09/2011 - 16:50.

How come you haven't learned that yet?

Many of us have now finally wised up to the fact that the best avenue towards realistically dealing with drug use and addiction is through proper regulation, which is what we already do with alcohol & tobacco --two of our most dangerous mood altering substances. But for those like yourself whose ignorant minds traverse a fantasy plane of existence, you will no doubt remain sorely upset with any type of solution that does not seem to lead to the absurd and unattainable utopia of a drug free society.

There is an irrefutable connection between drug prohibition and the crime, corruption, disease and death it causes. If you are not capable of understanding this connection, then maybe you're using something far stronger than the rest of us. Anybody 'halfway bright' and who's not psychologically challenged, should be capable of understanding, that it is not simply the demand for drugs that creates the mayhem; it is our refusal to let legal businesses meet that demand.

No amount of money, police powers, weaponry, wishful thinking or pseudo-science will make our streets safer; only an end to prohibition can do that. How much longer are you willing to foolishly risk your own survival by continuing to ignore the obvious, historically confirmed solution?

If you support prohibition then you've helped trigger the worst crime wave in history.

If you support prohibition you've helped escalate the number of people on welfare who can't find employment due to their felony status.

If you support prohibition you've a helped create a black market with massive incentives to hook both adults and children alike.

If you support prohibition you've helped to make these dangerous substances available in schools and prisons.

If you support prohibition you've helped raise gang warfare to a level not seen since the days of alcohol bootlegging.

If you support prohibition you've helped create the prison-for-profit synergy with drug lords.

If you support prohibition you've helped remove many important civil liberties from those citizens you falsely claim to represent.

If you support prohibition you've helped put previously unknown and contaminated drugs on the streets.

If you support prohibition you've helped to escalate Theft, Muggings and Burglaries.

If you support prohibition you've helped to divert scarce law-enforcement resources away from protecting your fellow citizens from the ever escalating violence against their person or property.

If you support prohibition you've helped overcrowd the courts and prisons, thus making it increasingly impossible to curtail the people who are hurting and terrorizing others.

If you support prohibition you've helped evolve local gangs into transnational enterprises with intricate power structures that reach into every corner of society, controlling vast swaths of territory with significant social and military resources at their disposal.

Won't you ever learn?

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