• Canadian Supreme Court rules 9-0 that B.C. drug injection clinic can stay open
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[b][highlight]LATEPOST! Take all discussion [url=http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1129094]here[/url][/highlight][/b] Source - [url=http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-drug-injection-clinic-can-stay-open-supreme-court-rules/article2186191/]The Globe and Mail[/url] [release][b]The Supreme Court of Canada has opened the door to supervised drug injection clinics across the country in a landmark decision on Friday that ordered the federal government to stop interfering with Vancouver’s controversial Insite clinic.[/b] The Court was persuaded by evidence that drug addicts are considerably safer administering their own injections under medical surveillance rather than obtaining and injecting hard drugs on the streets of the city’s troubled Downtown Eastside. In its 9-0 decision, it said the federal government has the jurisdictional right to use criminal law to restrict illicit-drug use – but that the concerns it cited in an attempt to close Insite were “grossly disproportionate” to the benefits for drug users and the community. [b]“During its eight years of operation, Insite has been proven to save lives with no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada,” the Court said. “The effect of denying the services of Insite to the population it serves and the correlative increase in the risk of death and disease to injection drug users is grossly disproportionate to any benefit that Canada might derive from presenting a uniform stance on the possession of narcotics.”[/b] In ordering the Harper government to exempt the clinic from prosecution for its activities, the Court said that the government cannot simply close down clinics based on its own distaste for legally sanctioned drug injections. [/release] [release]“So I really hope that today’s decision is a moment of opportunity and reflection and for Mr. Harper and his government to think about the importance of this service and to say to themselves that when something is working so well locally, they should not be a barrier; they should not be standing in the way of something that is proven to be a very important medical intervention to help save lives," she said. Writing for the majority, [b]Chief Justice McLachlin said that addicts are extremely sick individuals whose urgent need frequently leads to them inject drugs with dirty needles after dissolving narcotics in dirty puddle water. She noted that by 1993, 200 people were dying annually in the Downtown Eastside. Numerous others were contracting AIDS/HIV or other serious illnesses from their drug activities.[/b] Serious drug addiction is not a moral choice; it is an illness which essentially negates the notion of “choice” altogether, Chief Justice McLachlin said. She said that adopting a moral attitude toward an addict's “choices” – as the federal government did – was simply the wrong approach to take. [/release] Take that, Harper. Funny to see the federal government and the supreme court at odds like this, especially considering some of those supreme court justices were [i]appointed by[/i] the conservatives.
hahahahahhahahahahah this would never happen in the usa. fuck we're backwards.
It's nice to see some common sense poking its head into our business every now and then under this increasingly ridiculous government we're developing.
kerbled [url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1129094[/url]
[QUOTE=Lambeth;32559522]kerbled [url]http://www.facepunch.com/threads/1129094[/url][/QUOTE] "ker-bled"? "kerbl'd"?
[QUOTE=Andokool12;32559571]"ker-bled"? "kerbl'd"?[/QUOTE] Kerbl'd [url]http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kerbled[/url]
[QUOTE=Lambeth;32559618]Kerbl'd [url]http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=kerbled[/url][/QUOTE] Ah, thanks
This is so nice to hear a logical, helpful system that is saving lives isn't getting taken down because 'but, drugs'
Good to read. If anyone needs government aid, it's people who are addicted to drugs such as those.
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