Drug Policy

Closing Vancouver's Insite drug clinic would violate the Charter of RightsOTTAWA — Vancouver's controversial supervised-injection site should stay open indefinitely, the country's top court ruled Friday, calling the federal government's move to shut it down a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms...Shortly after the decision was released Friday morning, Davies said she felt "an incredible sense of relief and victory." "It's always been about saving people's lives," she said. "It's always been about a very important medical intervention to help people and the relentless opposition from the Conservative government has been just an incredible thing to take on. I feel so proud of all of the people who came together — whether they were academics, police officers, front-line activists, health professionals, and most of all, the drug users themselves — who were willing to stand up and have the courage to say they would fight all the way to make sure Insite continued its important work."

Supreme Court to hear heroin site debateOTTAWA - The Supreme Court of Canada is hearing arguments in Ottawa Thursday for and against the operation of Vancouver's Insite heroin-injection centre...The Conservative government led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper refused to extend the exemption in 2008 and the group operating the facility has been successfully fighting the decision in lower courts. But NDP Drug Critic, and MP for Vancouver-East Libby Davies, says the facility - the first of its kind in Canada - saves lives. "I find it appalling that the federal government has fought Insite every step of the way." Davies said. "The Conservatives are so rigid on their own ideological position, that they refuse to look at the overwhelming scientific evidence, more than 20 studies, that show Insite is part of the solution."

K’naan presses MPs to help world’s poor as generic-drug vote loomsOTTAWA - K’naan, the Juno Award-winning musician whose song Wavin’ Flag was Coca Cola’s anthem for the 2010 World Cup, will be on Parliament Hill on Wednesday to urge MPs to pass Bill C-393. He will be joined by Stephen Lewis, the former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, and James Orbinski, the founder of Dignitas International, a medical humanitarian organization...Bill C-393 was introduced by now-retired MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis but was essentially orphaned when she left federal politics to take a run at the Winnipeg mayor’s job. All bills need sponsors as they move through the various stages of debate and, if the Conservatives – who oppose the legislation – had refused to let it change hands, it eventually would have died. NDP House Leader Libby Davies persuaded the other parties earlier this year to allow her NDP colleague Paul Dewar to be recognized as the bill’s new sponsor, a move that kept it alive.

AIDS drug bill clears major hurdleOTTAWA - A bill that would enable generic drug companies to manufacture cheap AIDS drugs for developing countries cleared a major procedural hurdle in the House of Commons Feb 2 when unanimous consent was gained for the sponsorship to be transferred to NDP MP Paul Dewar. “There was a lot of work that went behind the scenes,” Masse says. “Libby Davies worked extremely well to try to gain compromise and to open the doors, and she felt that was brought forth and there was agreement on that".

Rare co-operation breathes life into generic-drug billOTTAWA - NDP House Leader Libby Davies persuaded the other parties to allow her NDP colleague Paul Dewar to be recognized as the bill’s new sponsor. Mr. Dewar has a slot near the top of Parliament’s order of precedence for private members’ bills, which means Bill C-393 could go to a final vote as early as March. “We saw proof today that Parliamentarians really can get things done together,” NDP industry critics Brian Masse, who has been fighting for the bill since Ms. Wasylycia-Leis’s departure, said in a press release.