OTTAWA (AFP) — Canada's Health Minister Tony Clement said on Thursday the government will appeal a court decision allowing addicts to shoot up at a clinic in Vancouver, exempt from criminal prosecution and under medical supervision.
"In my opinion, supervised injection is not medicine -- it does not heal the person addicted to drugs," he told a House of Commons health committee.
He argued that the controversial clinic failed to show conclusively that it had reduced drug abuse, overdoses, crime or the spread of disease in the area.
"What addicts need is treatment," he said. "Programs to support supervised injection divert valuable dollars away from treatment."
Clement said he would ask Justice Minister Rob Nicholson to appeal the British Columbia Supreme Court's ruling that keeps the clinic open "at the earliest possible opportunity."
Currently, the InSite clinic in a seamy neighborhood of Vancouver, western Canada, is the only place in North America where addicts can get medical supervision as they inject drugs illegally bought on the street.
However more such facilities could be on the way, supporters told AFP, after the court this week overturned federal drug rules that were expected to force the closure of the clinic.
The facility was established under Canada's previous government in 2003, and is operated by a non-profit organization under a special exemption from federal trafficking and possession laws, due to expire June 30.
In a ruling Tuesday, Justice Ian Pitfield agreed with lawyers for the Portland Hotel Society, which operates the clinic, that federal drug laws do not apply to health facilities.
The drug supervision facility frequented by some 500 regular clients in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside neighborhood says its aim is to prevent overdoses, offer health services and refer addicts to detox facilities.
Municipal and provincial governments, federal opposition politicians, health experts and some police had lobbied in favor of keeping InSite open.
Most opposition to the site was by the government and Canadian chiefs of police.
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