New rules impose stiffer requirements for safe drug-injection sites

OTTAWA – Proposed new rules for supervised drug injection sites will require advocates to take community opinions into account and gain the support of provincial and municipal authorities before they are allowed to set up clinics.

Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq tabled a bill this morning in response to a Supreme Court of Canada ruling that ordered Ottawa to stop interfering with InSite in Vancouver.

If passed, the new rules will also apply to the Vancouver facility, which will also have to show the impact of the clinic on neighbourhood crime rates and public health.

InSite supporters say the clinic has reduced fatal overdoses and connected drug addicts with the social services they need to improve their health, but no other city has yet set up a safe injection site.

Until now, such clinics required an exemption under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act to operate.

The new rules add an additional set of requirements.