Supreme Court Rules InSite Can Stay Open

Court determines provinces have the right to set up safe-injection clinics.

Update: The Supreme Court rules unanimously that the province has the ultimate say over whether drug-injection clinics can stay open, meaning InSite will not be shut down. Read the ruling here. The court said that the federal government's refusal to grant InSite an exemption from drug laws violates s. 7 of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees the right to "life, liberty, and security of the person."

The Supreme Court of Canada is set to rule on the legality of Vancouver's InSite safe-injection clinic, bringing to an end a years-long challenge from the Conservative government. At the heart of the bench's ruling will be whether the province of British Columbia has the right to run the clinic without a federal exemption to overlook drug crimes on the buildings premises. The Tories maintain that federal jurisdiction over the Criminal Code outweighs the province's control of the healthcare system. The court will also rule on whether closing the facility would breach addicts' Charter rights to "life, liberty, and security of the person." The Conservative government has made their plight to close InSite a cause celebre despite piles of evidence that the clinic has led to fewer drug-related deaths, fewer crimes, and less public drug use in Vancouver's impoverished Downtown Eastside. InSite has already won approval from the B.C. Court of Appeal to remain open.