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Occupy Vancouver prepared for potential police violence: Medics

The first aid tent at Occupy Vancouver. Photo: David P. Ball

Volunteer medics at Occupy Vancouver -- including an emergency room nurse and a first aid responder trained in the military -- are preparing for the worst as political rhetoric over the three-week-old encampment escalates.

After the death this weekend of Ashlie Gough, 23, in the camp, Mayor Gregor Robertson has come under pressure from his right-leaning opponent in the upcoming city election, Suzanne Anton, to remove Occupy Vancouver's tent city -- although the mayor said Sunday he was happy to let the protest continue, without people sleeping in tents. Stronger warnings from City Hall have medics at the encampment worried.

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The Supreme Court sides with Insite

Photo: Russell Maynard
The head of Vancouver’s Dr. Peter AIDS Centre, which also offers supervised injection services, responds to the Supreme Court’s ruling.

Related rabble.ca story:

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A triumph for Insite

Photo: Russell Maynard

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 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.

- The Supreme Court of Canada, Sept. 30, 2011

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for the sake of argument

The verdict is in: Insite saves lives

Insite in Vancouver. Photo: Stephen Dyrgas/Flickr

The verdict is in: Insite saves lives. A study by UBC scientists at the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS adds to the collection of data already showing that North America's first medically supervised safer injection facility saves lives and money.

The study, published last month in the prestigious British medical journal The Lancet, concludes that the opening of Insite in 2003 was associated with a 35 per cent reduction in overdose deaths in the neighbourhood surrounding the facility. This reduction translates into real lives saved at no expense whatsoever to the federal government.

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David J. Climenhaga

Today's the anniversary of a year of Tory majority rule: It just doesn't get any better than this!

| May 2, 2012
rabble news

Toronto's struggle to secure a safe injection site

Toronto doesn't look likely to get a supervised injection facility anytime soon, even though numerous studies have shown such facilities to save lives as well as healthcare dollars.

Nearly a decade's worth of research on Vancouver's supervised injection facility InSite has shown it to lower the spread of HIV and decrease the incidence of overdose fatalities in the city's Downtown Eastside. Furthermore, drug injection in public spaces has become less common in the area and locals are now less likely to tread on discarded syringes while walking the streets.

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Redeye

Supreme Court of Canada rules in support of Insite

October 13, 2011
| On September 30, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled unanimously that the federal health minister had to sign an exemption allowing Vancouver's safe injection site to stay open.

16:36 minutes (15.21 MB)
rabble interview

Canadian Drug Policy Coalition head: Ideology has no place

On June 2, the Global Commission on Drug Policy report was released after two years' work, denouncing the "war on drugs" as a failure and recommending political leaders worldwide adopt evidence- and rights-based approaches to drug policy. This is a pan-political group, with left- and right-wing politicians involved. 

Donald MacPherson, the director the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition, spoke to rabble.ca about the implications for Canada.

Cathryn Atkinson: Tell me about the Global Commission report.

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Pivot Legal Society

Pivot hosts Health, Harm Reduction and the Law: The InSite Case and the Future of Canadian Drug Policy

May 18, 2011
| Paul Ryan speaks to Darcie Bennett following Pivot's forum on the InSite supervised injection facility, a week after the federal government's final appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada.

7:20 minutes (6.72 MB)

Health, Harm Reduction and the Law: The InSite Case and the Future of Canadian Drug Policy

May 17 2011 - 6:30pm
May 17 2011 - 9:00pm

Location

Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema; third floor, SFU Woodwards
149 West Hastings Street
Vancouver, BC
Canada
49° 16' 56.3844" N, 123° 6' 31.6872" W

This May, the Supreme Court of Canada is set to hear the Federal Government's Appeal of the decision to allow the Insite supervised injection facility to continue to operate. On the evening of May 17th, join Pivot Legal Society,  the SFU Woodwards Community Engagement Office and moderator Donald MacPherson for a forum exploring what this case is all about and what the Supreme Court's decision will mean for people living with addictions and for the future of Canadian drug policy.

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