It began with one site, Insite, that operated under a 3-year 'pilot project' exemption from the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act granted by the Chretien government. Then along came Harper. Harper's weirdo health minister, Tony Clement, tried to shut it down by refusing an extension in 2008. Insite fought for its existence before the Supreme Court of British Columbia - and won. The safe injection site, North America's first, survived.
Now Andrew Scheer is hinting that, given the chance, he might take another run at shutting down some of the 41 sites that now cover the country.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the Liberal government's approach to the opioid crisis — allowing for more safe injection sites nationwide — is "terrible," but he won't yet say how a Tory government led by him would tackle a drug problem that has claimed thousands of lives.
The number of such sites — where people can inject intravenous drugs like heroin with clean needles — has soared under the Liberals, from just one in Vancouver to 41 across the country, according to Health Canada statistics. Applications are still pending for four more sites in Ontario, two in Alberta and one each in Saskatchewan and Manitoba'
Proponents champion these places as a way to help people battling addiction issues safely consume drugs while a nurse is on hand to prevent overdoses.
Experts say the sites are proven medical success stories because they keep drug users healthier and reduce costly hospital visits.
...the Supreme Court of Canada in 2011 blocked an attempt by the former Conservative government to shut down Insite.Scheer admits he wants to cut the number of existing sites and presumably make it harder for them to operate by reinstating Harper-era restrictions.
The court found an attempt to close the site infringed on the charter rights of addicts under Section 7: the right to life, liberty and security of the person.
Former federal health minister Jane Philpott changed the former Conservative government's stringent regulations on safe injection sites, also known as safe consumption sites, after the Liberal government was elected in 2015.
She did away with some of the more onerous restrictions that made it difficult for municipalities to apply for the necessary permissions to open such a site.
3 comments:
Why let the facts about less overdose deaths, less money spent on ambulances and paramedics, less infections, less used needles lying out in public, less heroin users strung-out in public, greater access to counseling and anti-addiction treatment, get in the way of a conservative's moronic, semi-articulated, delusional moral hypocrisy?
Once again, Scheer's "moral rectitude" blinds him to reality.
The truth is that most of the addicts cannot get better on the streets.
The treatment is the key, in a secure facility.
My best elderly friend was recently assaulted, without any provocation, (in Vancouver, 2 blocks away from Mountain Co-op) by a deranged addict, high on something. Got severe concussion as a result. After attacker fled, cops came and asked the freshly assaulted, bruised and dazed victim "what do you want us to do?"
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