POLS 3140 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Insite, Supervised Injection Site, Canada Health Act

• School: University of Guelph
• Department: Political Science
• Course: POLS 3140
• Professor: Dave Snow

Document Summary

Timeline: 1997: downtown eastside emergency, 1999: harm reduction strategy, 2003: insite opens, 2011: supreme court decision, 2013: new legislation. Va(cid:374)(cid:272)ou(cid:448)er(cid:859)s 4 pillar drug strategy: prevention, treatment, enforcement, harm reduction. Focus on harm caused by substance, not user: not based on abstinence. Middle range: between prohibitionist and legalization. Other harm reduction examples: needle exchange, methadone clinic, tolerance zones, e-cigarettes. Opened september 21, 2003: operated by portland hotel society and vancouver coastal health. Users bring own substance: given clean materials, monitored by staff, often referred to other health care providers. Hailed as success by staff, users, medical professionals, researchers, province, city. Addiction is a disease and deserves a compassionate approach. Individual: disease, infection, overdose: community: crime, public disorder. Compromises other pillars: prevention and enforcement especially. Exemption possible under s. 56: minister may exempt any person or class of persons from cdsa for medical or scientific purpose or public interest. Cle(cid:373)e(cid:374)t: (cid:858)the site itself represe(cid:374)ts a failure of pu(cid:271)li(cid:272) poli(cid:272)y(cid:859)