Insite - Vancouver

The 12-seat supervised injection room is just one part of the facility. After injecting, the 600 drug users who visit Insite on an average day are asked to move to a post-injection room where they can rest and rehydrate before going back onto the street. Townsend says that this time is used to make contact with the users, to educate them about safe injection practices, and to refer them to medical care for treatment of wounds or to detox facilities if the addict expresses interest in getting clean. In fact, staff can refer addicts directly to Onsite - a 30-bed detox facility located above Insite.  "We have a detox right above our heads, so people know that they can always ask to be admitted there - it's really about making things as easy as possible," says Townsend. "But the first step is just making contact with people who have traditionally been alone in the alleys or in hotel rooms injecting drugs on their own. These people don't usually have any contact with health services, so that's why we've seen that going to Insite makes users 30 per cent more likely to seek treatment for drug addiction."

"While there is nothing to be said in favour of the injection of controlled substances that leads to addiction, there is much to be said against denying addicts health care services that will ameliorate the effects of their condition," Justice Ian Pitfield wrote. "I cannot agree with the submission that an addict must feed his addiction in an unsafe environment when a safe environment that may lead to rehabilitation is the alternative."