Dharm Makwana

T he federal government is foolish in attempting to close Vancouver’s supervised drug-injection site through an appeal with Supreme Court of Canada, said a concerned client.

Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Tuesday in Ottawa the feds would return to court after a B.C. Supreme Court decision ruled Insite to be a medical facility, which falls under provincial jurisdiction. The Conservatives’ Anti-Drug Strategy centres on access to treatment and prevention with a stern law-and-order approach towards drug production and distribution.

“Do you think that they’re going to control any of this,” asked Terry, gesturing from inside the centre near Main and East Hastings Streets towards the frenetic open-air drug market bustling on the other side of a secured glass window. “This is the Olympics and nothing has changed.”

For Terry, on the other hand, change has come slowly and steadily since he first went to Insite for therapy more than five years ago.

The 49-year-old kicked his habit down to injecting one tenth of a gram of heroin per day. Terry said at-risk addicts inject two to three times more than him in a single day.

“I haven’t kicked it but I have also substantially knocked my habit down,” he said. “It’s kept me out of trouble.”

Through the facility operated by Portland Hotel Society more than 7,000 clients were given access to clean syringes and other supplies in 2008.

Terry said he’s less tempted to inject drugs because he keeps none of the needed paraphernalia inside his home.

“I don’t look at it like a recreational drug,” he said. “I don’t do it to get high. I do it not to get sick.”