Vancouver's Insite gets injection of time
Surprise, surprise those who assumed a law-and-order Conservative-led government would force Vancouver's (and North America's) first legal drug injection site to close at its first opportunity. Personally, I figured it was a 50-50 shot.
There are those who say that closing the facility would have amounted to mass murder, given the number of fatal drug overdoses prevented by having Insite around. It's an odd argument, akin to saying that the elected representatives of virtually every city, regional and national government on Earth outside of Europe ought to be charged for negligent homicide.
It sort of throws out the whole idea of personal responsibility and societal norms.
Ah, well. In this case, the Conservatives have erred on the side of pragmatism, given that the experiment so far is hinting at some concrete benefits, like 800 of the 7,200 people there actually heading into rehab. Fewer people are injecting heroin right on the sidewalk (which shouldn't be an issue in a Canadian city to begin with, but it seems like progress).
Besides, we don't seem to have any other options on the table these days. Civil City, anyone?
There are those who say that closing the facility would have amounted to mass murder, given the number of fatal drug overdoses prevented by having Insite around. It's an odd argument, akin to saying that the elected representatives of virtually every city, regional and national government on Earth outside of Europe ought to be charged for negligent homicide.
It sort of throws out the whole idea of personal responsibility and societal norms.
Ah, well. In this case, the Conservatives have erred on the side of pragmatism, given that the experiment so far is hinting at some concrete benefits, like 800 of the 7,200 people there actually heading into rehab. Fewer people are injecting heroin right on the sidewalk (which shouldn't be an issue in a Canadian city to begin with, but it seems like progress).
Besides, we don't seem to have any other options on the table these days. Civil City, anyone?
Labels: Civil City, Insite, Vancouver, war on drugs
