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Former mayors speak out for Insite
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Divided by politics but united by drug policy, five former Vancouver mayors have issued a last-minute plea to Ottawa to drop its appeal of earlier court decisions approving Insite, the city’s supervised drug injection site. “Since opening in 2003, Insite has proven – beyond a doubt – its worth to our community,” the five ex-mayors say in an open letter issued to the federal Conservative government. Open letter supporting Insite from Vancouver mayors. -
Globe editorial: Supervised injection for the sake of public health
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Vancouver’s supervised drug-injection clinic, Insite, saves lives and prevents human misery. Providing addicts with a safe, sterile place to inject heroin and other drugs is a pragmatic and effective way to curb the spread of infectious disease, including HIV/AIDs and hepatitis B and C, and to reduce substance abuse and overdoses. Yet the federal government persists in opposing it, viewing Insite not as a critical component of British Columbia’s health-based approach to treating addiction, but as a stark violation of criminal law. -
The arguments for and against Vancouver’s supervised injection site
A lightning rod for controversy, Insite attracts support and detractors along several main lines
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
When the Supreme Court of Canada convenes to consider Vancouver’s supervised injection site, it will hear detailed arguments that hinge on the fine print of the Canadian Constitution. But besides being a landmark showdown between federal and provincial powers, the hearing also sets the stage for a ruling expected to affect not only the daily lives of injection drug users on Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside but drug policy across the country and potentially farther afield. -
Review drags drug law into 21st Century
New Zealand Drug Foundation
Tuesday, May 3, 2011New Zealand’s 35-year-old Misuse of Drugs Act should be consigned to the rubbish heap of history and replaced with a modern, flexible, health-focussed law fit for purpose for the 21st Century, said the New Zealand Drug Foundation today. The Drug Foundation was responding to the Law Commission’s recommendations for reforming the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, which was tabled today in Parliament. The report makes 144 recommendations for a new legislative and policy approach to reducing the country’s drug problem, and is a result of a comprehensive 2 year review of New Zealand’s obsolete drug law.
See: New Zealand Law Commission report: Controlling and Regulating Drugs – A Review of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975
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Federal prosecutors step into debate over medical marijuana, warn of potential criminal cases
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 3, 2011Several states have started reassessing their medical marijuana laws after stern warnings from the federal government that everyone from licensed growers to regulators could be subjected to prosecution.The ominous-sounding letters from U.S. attorneys in recent weeks have directly injected the federal government back into a debate that has for years been progressing at the state level.
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Federal pot prosecutions have not let up
San Francisco Chronicle (US)
Saturday, April 30, 2011When the Obama administration declared 18 months ago that it would stop arresting people who complied with their states' medical marijuana laws, advocates were encouraged but wary, saying pot patients and their suppliers were still at risk of federal prosecution. In a new report, the advocacy group Americans for Safe Access said its caution was justified: Prosecutions have continued unabated, and the number of raids has increased.
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Study: tens of thousands of Finns have grown their own cannabis
One in five young Finns know a home-grower
Helsingin Sanomat (Finland)
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
An estimated 40,000 – 60,000 Finns have tried growing cannabis at home. The number of active home growers in Finland is about ten thousand, but they have many friends. On in five Finns under the age of 35 say that they know at least one home grower. The estimates are from a study which is being published in Yhteiskuntapolitiikka, the publication of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL). -
Medical marijuana: Federal pressure stirs legal confusion
Mary K. Reinhart and Craig AndersonThe Arizona Republic (US)
Thursday, April 21, 2011Threatened medical-marijuana crackdowns by federal prosecutors in other states have stoked fears about whether state employees, dispensary owners and others could be punished for operating under Arizona's fledgling law. Although the Justice Department said in 2009 that it would not prosecute sick people using medical marijuana, U.S. attorneys in California and Washington state have told officials there that they do intend to enforce federal laws that prohibit manufacture and distribution of the drug.
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Counterpoint: Drug addicts can’t recover if they’re already dead
Liz EvansNational Post (Canada)
Wednesday, April 20, 2011InSite does not operate under the assumption that addiction is incurable. We believe in recovery; in fact, the biggest difference between our approach to recovery and the opinion expressed by Barbara Kay in her recent column (Rehab still the best solution for addiction) is that we believe it should be possible even for addicts who are not ready to get clean. InSite’s purpose is to help prevent addicts from dying, either from an overdose or from a disease, before they get a chance to recover.
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It’s time to inject some Insite into this campaign
Globe and Mail (Canada)
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
For all the thunderous warnings about Stephen Harper’s hidden agenda, there has been remarkably little talk in this election about one of the few real examples of Conservative social conservatism – namely, the party’s stunningly steadfast opposition to the Insite supervised injection facility in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
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