Support Insite Public Campaign
The project's overall purpose is to increase public awareness about the dangers of closing Insite, the only supervised injection site in North America. Operating for the past five years preventing drug overdose deaths and reducing harms associated with injection drug use, the federal government refused to renew the center's license on June 30th, 2008.
The PHS Community Services Society, the manager of Insite, together with a community coalition, will launch a public education and awareness campaign with the aim of changing the federal government's decision. The events include: delivering press releases and announcements to the media, organizing demonstrations, and sending close to ten thousand letters to Prime Minister Stephen Harper. One action per day will be organised over a one-month period in May, 2008.
Currently, Insite continues to provide vital primary health care as a result of a decision of the BC Supreme Court that drug addiction is a chronic relapsing illness and that closing Insite would be a violation of Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms protecting "life and security of the person." The Government of Canada is appealing the court decision, and the campaign continues to call on Stephen Harper to do the right thing, and keep InSite saving lives.