Supreme Court opens hearings into Insite
Future of safe injection facility to be determined by top court
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The Supreme Court will open hearings on Thursday to determine the future of Insite, the safe injection facility in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. At issue is whether authority over the site rests with the provincial or federal government, and whether closing it would constitute a breach of its drug-addicted users’ rights. B.C.’s provincial government has argued Insite is a provincial health care facility that has helped curb overdoses and the spread of diseases like HIV, while the federal government wants it shuttered as part of its tough-on-crime agenda. A 2008 provincial court ruling in B.C. upheld the province’s right to operate the facility, which is entirely funded by the B.C. government.