A local nurse and manager of a program that provides medical help to drug addicts is hopeful a new Supreme Court ruling that allowed a Vancouver safe injection site to stay open – will translate to such a facility opening in Edmonton.

"I'm a nurse, I don't want people doing drugs," Marliss Taylor, a nurse on Edmonton's streets for 16 years told CTV News. "But I'm aware that it's a health issue and we need to come at it realistically."

Taylor has noticed an increase in the number of people doing drugs on the streets in an unsafe manner; she said a facility similar to the site in Vancouver would benefit addicts in Edmonton.

"Where we can help people prevent HIV and Hepatitis C and overdose," Taylor said. "And get them connected with other services."

The Insite facility in Vancouver was at the centre of a ruling by the country's highest court – the Supreme Court of Canada has ruled the site exempt from federal law.

The ruling means drug addicts are protected while on the site.

A representative with HIV Edmonton told CTV News the ruling means any new safe injection site would have to be established under the same model as the program in Vancouver.

However, a plan is nothing without government support – CTV News asked the three PC Leadership candidates for their stance on the controversial issue, and at least two out of three would look at it.

"I think we need to look at them," Alison Redford said Friday. "I think they are part of a preventative health plan, I haven't read the decision but I know it could be very specific to that circumstance."

"I don't know whether the need is the same in Alberta as it is in Vancouver," Candidate Gary Mar said. "But I'd certainly be prepared to look at it."

Doug Horner said he would try to approach the issue of drug addiction in a different way – before resorting to safe injection sites.

"There would appear to be a lot of issues that we would have to deal with before we get there," Candidate Doug Horner said. "I'd like to solve the issue of the addiction, and hopefully work a little harder at getting traffickers off the streets as opposed to going down safe injection sites."

The Supreme Court said Insite, the safe injection site in Vancouver, has been effective in preventing the spread of disease, and has minimized the number of deaths, overdoses and hospitalizations related to drug use.

With files from Amanda Anderson