Fate of Safe-Injection Program in Hands of Canadian Supreme Court

The Canadian Supreme Court has agreed to decide whether the federal government has the power to shut down a pioneering Vancouver program that provides drug addicts a safe place to inject their drugs.

The Toronto Globe and Mail reported June 24 that the Insite program has operated under a waiver of Canadian drug laws since 2003, but the current conservative government has sought to revoke the exemption and shutter the program. The British Columbia Court of Appeal ruled earlier this year that the province — which supports Insite — has jurisdiction over the program, not the federal government.

The initial federal exemption for Insite expired years ago, but British Columbia has allowed it to continue to operate.