I’m in BC for the weekend and the big news in today’s northern newspapers is good news—the Supreme Court of Canada has bucked the conservative government and defended Insite, a safe-injection clinic in Vancouver.
This was unusual (or so the newspapers tell me) because the Supreme Court has a reputation for “acceding to the will of Parliament.” And though the decision directly addresses a tiny, tiny sliver of Canada’s population—the IV drug users of Vancouver who inject at Insite—the court’s unanimous ruling is a big, big victory for all of North America’s harm-reduction community, and those who think that criminalizing drug use does more far more harm than good.
Take it away, Globe and Mail:
The Supreme Court grounded its decision in the Charter right to life, liberty and security of the person. It said that the government cannot simply withdraw the exemption from prosecution, jeopardizing medical staff and users based on its distaste for legally sanctioned drug injections.
“Insite has saved lives and improved health,” Chief Justice McLachlin said. “And it did those things without increasing the incidence of drug use and crime in the surrounding area. The Vancouver police support Insite. The city and provincial government want it to stay open.
The papers are also full of great corollary stories about addiction in general, the shifting winds of Canada’s drug policy, and the conservative mayor of Vancouver who championed Insite because he refused to let ideology trump facts.
And this story, about a neurologist with an impressive drug history of his own who is studying addiction and the brain, is especially good:
But a cure for addiction may be impossible. If Marc Lewis is right, and addictive tendencies are as universal as he suggests, there is no such thing as an addict: There are only more and less extreme cases of neurological longing. Desire – the foundation of human choice, as rationalism would have it, and therefore of human dignity – is actually most of what we are, as human beings.
Because of the way cortical dopamine works, the prospect of feeling better (the thought of that dose, that hamburger) is even more motivating than the reward. Anticipation is all. As Dr. Lewis points out, if you block the dopamine receptors of a hungry rat sitting in front of a pile of food, it won’t eat. “It says, ‘Yeah, I’m hungry, but so what?’ So we need these systems to drive us to pursue any goal.”
… these are not new findings, but, as the scientific foundation for the detailed memoirs of a former drug addict, they sharpen our understanding of why we do what we shouldn’t.
The article is especially recommended for those who argue that because addiction is an ugly thing, we should keep up our policies of prohibition.
Read the whole thing here.
@1 – Sure, it’s a safe city as long as you classify all murders as self-defense.
I agree that addictions can be based on very real natural wants…for example on of my pet theories is that alcoholism starts as a food deficiency…maybe for vitamin C.
However, this would indicate we need new research paths as well such as tracing evolutionary “addictions” (sounds like a Mudede post).
I mean what did the heroin addict of 100,000 years ago do for his addiction?
@1 I don’t understand your point. You disagree that the Insite ruling is good news? What’s Texas got to do with Insite?
@1: As someone pretty damn familiar with Texas’ penal code, I can tell you your sense of how freely you can go about shooting people is just wrong. BTW, contrary to a similar urban legend, “he needed killin'” isn’t a legally recognized defense in Texas, either.
Interesting studies on the neurological side of akrasia. There’s something a little more complex than mere desire going on there, but that anecdote about the self starving rat really does shed some light on why we do or don’t do what we think is Right.
Canada, you really rock sometimes.
Government based on facts? Rational scientific study used to set public policy? Irrational moralising based on myths that are proven false time and time again are swept aside? Oh, Canada! How I admire you! You respect your people! You respect their well being because you know the health of your nation depends on it. While your neighbor to the south is stuck in an increasingly irrational vortex of right wing ignorance and greed that is sucking the life out of all but the rich. Help!
@8 Oh, don’t get too excited – the government is currently shoving through an omnibus crime bill that would basically turn our justice system into something Bush would’ve drooled over. The Insite ruling is a fantastic victory and a great source of hope for Vancouver’s downtown eastside, but we still have work to do.
What KayElle said. It was our Supreme Court that shut down our crazy Conservative majority government with this ruling. Said right-wing government crazies have been trying to kill Insite forever and although they lost this one you can bet they’ll find lots of other ways to do fantastic damage to our poor little country in the next four years–including stacking our top court with conservative judges to guard against future rulings like this. It really sucks. But for today, yay.
@8- and let’s not forget the damn copyright bill come back to haunt us like a zombie. Still, that whole thing about our Supreme Court rolling over for Parliament is waaaay off base. Even our most conservative justices are very respectful of the Charter and won’t cave just ’cause the PM wants them to.