By Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

VANCOUVER – The B.C. Court of Appeal has dismissed the federal government appeal, which means Insite, the Vancouver supervised injection site that was the first of its kind in the country, will remain open.

The federal government is expected to appeal today’s ruling to the Supreme Court of Canada.

Insite was originally allowed to operate under a temporary exemption to federal drug control laws. When the temporary exemption was due to expire, Insite went to the BC Supreme Court and won a permanent exemption.

The federal Conservative government appealed that decision.

Grace Pastine, litigation director of the BCCLA, said if the appeal court upholds the lower court decision, it will be a major victory for social justice in the Downtown Eastside because the facility allows drug addicts access to the health care that they desperately need.

"It’s been shown to be a great success," she explained Thursday.

The goal of Insite was to limit the harm caused by sharing needles, which leads to the spread of HIV and Hepatitis Cs, and reduce the number of overdose deaths.

Insite is operated by the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority and the Portland Hotel Society. It provides supervised and sanitary conditions for the use of intravenous drugs.

Related Links

• Original Publisher