Government Concedes that Safe-Injection Site Saves Lives

A Supreme Court hearing on the fate of Insite heard that Ottawa has no evidence for why it should be shut down.

Lawyers representing the federal government said they have no evidence to counter claims that a safe-injection site in Vancouver has helped save addicts' lives. The Supreme Court of Canada has reserved its decision following a hearing on the fate of Insite, Canada's first supervised injection clinic. Its decision will be released once it has detailed its responses to both sides' arguments. The Conservative government has long sought to have the facility shut down, claiming that federal jurisdiction over the Criminal Code outweighs British Columbia's jurisdiction of health-care delivery. Two lower courts in B.C. have already ruled in favour of the clinic. Since Insite's opening in 2003, the number of deaths due to heroin overdoses in Vancouver has plummeted.