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By Neal Hall, Vancouver Sun

The federal government is appealing the recent ruling of the B.C. Court of Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

B.C.’s appeal court, in a 2-1 decision last month, upheld the lower court ruling that dismissed the federal government appeal.

The appeal ruling allowed Insite, the first legal supervised injection site in North America, to continue operating on East Hastings in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.

Insite was served notice Tuesday that the Conservative federal government plans to appeal the B.C. Appeal Court ruling, which was handed down Jan. 15.

Mark Townsend, executive director of the Portland Hotel Society Community Services, which runs Insite with Vancouver Coastal Health, said he was disappointed by the Stephen Harper government’s plan to appeal.

"The courts have now ruled twice in favour of Insite," he said. "We wish Stephen Harper would stop wasting court time and the taxpayers’ money and start helping to solve the drug problem in our community."

The B.C. appeal court ruled that health care services provided at Insite are a provincial, not federal, responsibility, so the court found it was unnecessary to rule on the facility’s constitutional right to exist. The ruling upheld the trial decision in 2008 by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Ian Pitfield.

Federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday the government wants to overturn the B.C. rulings that allow the facility to continue to operate.

"This case raises important questions regarding the doctrine of interjurisdictional immunity and the division of powers between the federal and provincial governments," he said.

"We recognize that injection drug users need assistance," he said. "This is why our National Anti-Drug strategy focuses on prevention and access to treatment for those with drug dependencies."

Nicholson said the current aim is getting tough on "drug dealers and producers who threaten the safety of our children and communities."

"Our message is clear: if you sell or produce drugs, you will face jail time," said Nicholson.

Since Insite opened in 2003, there have been more than 40 peer-reviewed academic papers, reports and studies published in scientific medical journals verifying Insite’s success.

The reports concluded Insite prevents overdose deaths, limits the spread of disease, reduces public disorder and moves more people into detox and addiction treatment, while saving taxpayer dollars.

Health Canada initially granted a three-year exemption under Section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to establish Insite as a scientific research project in Vancouver. Researchers from the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS acted as evaluators of Insite.

Insite received further extensions to continue to operate after Harper’s Conservative government was elected in 2006, the federal government has sought to shut down the facility.

In 2008, the Portland Hotel Society and the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users launched a constitutional challenge of the federal government’s power to close the facility, arguing that the site, in the long term, saves lives and taxpayer money.

nhall@vancouversun.com

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