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The exemption was extended to 2008, at which time a new government, under Prime Minister Stephen Harper, indicated it would not support what it labelled a “failed experiment.”

The Conservative government position upset many health-care providers and Insite clients, who pointed to peer-reviewed research they said “proved” the supervised injection facility saves lives, by reducing the chances of fatal drug overdose and the spread of deadly disease.

Insite, they argued, also brings a measure of public order to a neighbourhood where open drug use and violent crime are all too common. The facility sees a daily average of 587 drug injections.

“The city and provincial government want it to stay open,” Friday’s Supreme Court decision reads.

“The issue is not whether harm reduction or abstinence-based programs are the best approach to resolving illegal drug use, but whether Canada has limited the rights of the claimants in a manner that does not comply with the Charter [of Rights & Freedoms].”

Ending Insite’s exemption, the court determined, “would have prevented injection drug users from accessing the health services offered by Insite, threatening their health and indeed their lives.”

Closing the facility would also contravene their right to life, liberty and the security of their person, prescribed in Section 7 of the Charter.

Supervised injection can now be fully recognized as a legitimate, effective component of harm reduction, itself a “standard of care” in the battle against drug addiction and the spread of infectious disease, said Dr. Julio Montaner, director of the B.C. Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS. “This is a great day. I’m thrilled.”