Will Ottawa’s new rules for supervised drug-injection sites make opening one easier or harder?

Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservative government has made no secret of its distaste for Insite, the supervised injection site where Vancouver drug addicts can shoot up under the eyes of a health worker.

It's been trying to padlock the facility, which opened in 2003 in Vancouver's drug-plagued Downtown Eastside, since coming to power in 2006.

But in 2011, the Supreme Court of Canada essentially told the Conservatives to suck it up, that it could not rescind the special Health Canada permit that allows it to shelter illegal drug use.

The Toronto Star noted at the time that the high court's unanimous decision hammered the Conservatives for their "arbitrary" and moralistic approach to the site's operation.

Advocates presented the court with a lot of evidence that such supervised injection sites reduce harm by cutting HIV and hepatitis C infection rates by giving addicts clean needles. Its health staff have also intervened in hundreds of overdoses and the place acts as a bridge to detox for addicts who want to kick.

The government, whose avowed policy is to target drug dealing as a way of curbing use and to address addiction through established treatment programs, was forced to accept a ruling that effectively opened the door to more such sites across Canada.

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"We'll look at the decision, respect the decision and work within the decision," Harper said, according to the Star.

Flash forward to the present day and news the government is about to introduce the rules that will govern any new supervised injection sites.

CBC News reports the Conservatives will introduce legislation on Thursday clarifying the steps to get the same kind of exemption given the Vancouver site.

No new applications have been made since the court's ruling but CBC News said groups in Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal and Edmonton are among those who've expressed interest in opening a site. A study released last year concluded sites in Ottawa and Toronto would reduce harm both to drug users and the public, according to CBC News.

We don't know whether the government, given its leanings, will make the rules so onerous that it will be difficult to set up a safe injection site.

[ Related: Supervised drug injection sites to get new rules tomorrow ]

Sources who's been working on the file told CBC News the legislation will contain a significant number of criteria to clarify where a new site can open. That includes giving communities a say.

Given how residents often react to word their neighbourhood is being considered for a drug rehab centre or halfway house for parolees, local support or the lack of it likely will be a major factor in a successful application for a safe injection site.

Certainly no one wants to ram such a facility down residents' throats. Support for Insite in Vancouver cuts across political lines at both the municipal and provincial level, though it's made barely a dent in the Downtown Eastside's drug problem.

A 2008 report by Health Canada's own expert advisory committee, which gave Insite a generally positive review, said there was no evidence that drug-related loitering, dealing or petty crime had increased in areas around Insite.