REAL Women national vice president Gwen Landolt said the offer of so-called “safe” injection sites for addicts who desperately need treatment to get them off drugs is “assisting in the suicide of drug addicts.” She warned the push for such sites is part of an overall strategy to decriminalize drug use. Removing criminal penalties sends a message to society that addictive drug use is socially acceptable.

British Columbia has argued InSite provides health care to addicts and is thus a health issue under provincial jurisdiction.

Landolt disagrees the site provides health care. The present federal drug laws and the use of “drug courts” to force addicts arrested on possession charges to choose between treatment or a criminal charge are the only ways to help addicts, Landolt said. 

“Treatment is the only way addicts can get out of the horror of being an addict.”

The province has the support of groups such as the Canadian Medical Association (CMA), which is among the nine interveners.

“The CMA strongly supports the inclusion of harm-reduction tools in a comprehensive national drug strategy,” said CMA president Dr. Jeff Turnbull last October when announcing the CMA was seeking to intervene in the case. “The management of a substance-addicted person through a harm-reduction strategy such as InSite is a medical decision involving clinical autonomy and not an issue subject to government intrusion.”

Supporters of InSite argue the site protects addicts from dying from drug overdoses or contracting HIV/AIDs or hepatitis through the sharing of contaminated syringes.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson has said the case raises questions about the division of powers between the federal and the provincial governments and inter-jurisdictional immunity.