It is unfortunately all too common in the United States to hear political figures bash the judiciary. This week’s award for  champion court basher is former Speaker Newt Gindrich. Regretyably,  this phenomenon is not peculiar to the United States. It happens in Canada as well.  Kirk Makin reports in  this article  for  The Toronto Globe and Mail that a drug-injection ruling hints at likely clashes between Ottawa and the Courts. In late September the Canadian Supreme Court in a 9-0 vote held that  the federal government has the right to use criminal law to restrict illicit-drug use – but that the concerns it cited in an attempt to close Insite (a site where safe injections were provided)  were “grossly disproportionate” to the benefits for drug users and the community.

“During its eight years of operation, Insite has been proven to save lives with no discernible negative impact on the public safety and health objectives of Canada,” the Court said. “The effect of denying the services of Insite to the population it serves and the correlative increase in the risk of death and disease to injection drug users is grossly disproportionate to any benefit that Canada might derive from presenting a uniform stance on the possession of narcotics.”

In ordering the federal government to exempt the clinic from prosecution for its activities, the Court said that the government cannot simply close down clinics based on its own distaste for legally sanctioned drug injection. The full opinion of the court can be found at: http://scc.lexum.org/en/2011/2011scc44/2011scc44.html