This explainer provides an overview and background information about Insite, North America’s only supervised injection site for drug users. It is the subject of a May 2011 Supreme Court of Canada hearing that will determine the future of the operation. This post will be updated as new information becomes available.
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On May 12, 2011 an historic case will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada. As many of you know, Canada permitted the operation of a “safer injection site” for those using unlawful injection drugs under
supervision. This facility, which is known as “Insite” was originally a scientific experiment permitted pursuant to section 56 of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act. The Harper Conservative government declined to allow Insite to continue to operate after the initial exemption ran out despite overwhelming evidence that it
reduces overdose, saves lives, reduces unsafe injection practices and a host of other good results. Accordingly various people and organizations went to court.The battle was won at trial, won again on appeal and now heads to Canada’s highest Court. There are a number of arguments being advanced including that it is drug prohibition itself that causes the most harm to those dealing with the disease of addiction and that, therefore, the prohibition laws violate the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and are invalid.
You can watch the arguments live, commencing at 9:30am EST, streamed over the web:
http://scc-csc.insinc.com/web/scc_live_stream.php?lan=EN&resolution=HI
Please see the Supreme Court of Canada website for more information about the case:
http://www.scc-csc.gc.ca/case-dossier/cms-sgd/sum-som-eng.aspx?cas=33556.
Kirk Tousaw
Executive Director
Beyond Prohibition Foundation
www.whyprohibition.ca -
The men and women took to the stage in the Mexico City’s vast plaza and tearfully told stories of how they lost their loved ones: how a son was kidnapped, tortured and dumped dead in a car trunk; how a brother was killed for standing up to gangsters; how a child died in crossfire.
But while such stories have become tragically common in Mexico, this was the first time the mourners could vent their grief in front of tens of thousands of sympathizers and TV cameras from across the world.
And in this media spotlight, the protesters made a new demand — amid the failure of the government to provide security, they cried, the Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna must resign.
“We don’t want more dead. We don’t want more hate,” protest leader Javier Sicilia told the crowd. “President Felipe Calderon — show you are listening to us and make the public safety secretary resign.”
The demand announced at Sunday’s rally gave a new edge to a movement that has been steadily rising amid the massacres and mass graves of Mexico’s drug war.
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by By COHA Research Associate Zoë Amerigian
• U.S. drug policy needs to be altered; legalization must be subject to serious debate
• Legalization could eliminate illegal demand for Mexican marijuana and curb drug-related violence
• Medical dangers of marijuana may be largely exaggerated
• Economic costs and benefits should be balanced; legalization could reduce financial burden on the U.S.Few topics of debate are as stigmatizing and polarizing as the legalization of marijuana. For the majority of the U.S. population, the idea invokes one of two reactions: a firm guffaw at the ridiculousness of it, or a tenacious, almost blind, support of it. Regardless of their stance, most people derive their opinions from personal beliefs and unsubstantiated myth rather than unassailable fact.
Disinformation on marijuana is rampant and several U.S. presidents have been stubbornly opposed to any serious discussion about marijuana legalization. National interest in the subject is evidenced by the myriad of legalization-related questions directed at the White House, yet President Obama cannot stifle his laughter every time the topic is brought up.
Secretary of State Clinton brushes off the idea, vaguely dismissing the subject with “[T]here is just too much money in it,”1—the implication of this statement is uncertain—while countless lawmakers simply cite “morality” in disregarding it.
If the federal government is going to firmly oppose legalization, they must first establish that they have given significant consideration to the idea. Many Latin American nations, including Mexico and Colombia, the greatest victims of the drug trade, have already had serious debate about legalization. It is time for the U.S. to do the same.
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By Scott Morgan, Associate Editor, StoptheDrugWar.org
In an apparent effort to prevent marijuana legalization from again dominating the discussion, Obama’s next online townhall event will not allow participants to vote on their favorite questions for the president. But what does that say about the politics of social media? And will it even work?
It started with a simple and promising idea. The young voters who helped put Obama in office congregate on the Internet, and the best way to keep them involved in the political process is to meet them on their own turf. The incoming Obama Administration planned online forums mimicking the “thumbs up, thumbs down” voting systems that help rank the best content on popular viral sites like YouTube, Reddit and Digg. The President would solicit questions from the public and see what people cared about the most.
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This week, in observance of 4/20, we’re taking a look at the politics of pot in America. We kicked off yesterday with a quick overview of marijuana law reform efforts over the past twelve months. Today, we check in with a leading legalization advocate, Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the New York-based Drug Policy Alliance, for a take on the path ahead. Below, some highlights from our talk.
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Vancouver’s controversial safe injection site became an election issue Monday after yet another published study showed it has saved lives, prompting the study’s author to say Conservative policy on the site has no basis in fact.
Critics demanded Prime Minister Stephen Harper drop his government’s opposition to the clinic and abandon efforts to have it shut down.
Harper was in Yellowknife on Monday where he touted his government’s national drug strategy, saying it is based on prevention and treatment.
But the Conservative government has said in the past that it doesn’t condone the safe injection site and claims it fosters addiction.
The latest study was published this week in the influential medical journal The Lancet. It was written by Dr. Thomas Kerr, along with his colleagues from the Urban Health Research Initiative at Vancouver’s St. Paul’s Hospital.
“Canadians should be concerned about how the federal government is approaching problems like drug addiction — that they’re really not basing their decision on science, they’re basing it on ideology,” Kerr said.
