Constitutional rights to supervised drug injection facilities in Canada

Abstract

On September 30, 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada ordered the government of Canada to continue to exempt Vancouver's supervised narcotic injection facility from Canada's criminal drug laws. The controversial clinic, known as Insite, had operated for eight years in one of the country's most socially troubled and economically challenged neighbourhoods struggling with addictions to illegal drugs. Insite was the first of its kind in North America, although supervised drug injection facilities continue in Europe and Australia. In this article we describe what the court accepted as the factual outcomes of this clinic and the constitutional basis for this judicial rejection of government health and criminal policy. We also consider the implications of this decision for similar facilities across Canada.