Alberta closes supervised drug consumption site at Edmonton hospital

Alberta has closed one of three supervised consumption sites in Edmonton, continuing pressure to close such sites as the province shifts focus from overdose prevention to recovery and treatment.

The province closed the downtown Royal Alexandra Hospital site on Tuesday. It provided sterile equipment for drug use and staff supervision in case of overdose.

In November, Mental Health and Addictions Minister Rick Wilson said the supervised consumption site would be replaced with a rapid access treatment site.

Recovery Alberta did not immediately provide details on when the treatment center would be operational.

The two remaining supervised consumption sites in Edmonton are at Radius Community Health and Healing and the George Spady Centre.

Alberta begins 2025 with seven supervised consumption sites — three in Edmonton and one each in Calgary, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie and Red Deer.

With the shuttering of the Royal Alexandra location and the previous closure in Red Deer, there are five remaining. It is expected to reduce.

Wilson ministry spokesperson Nathaniel Duke says the province plans to close the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Center, Calgary’s only supervised consumption site, next year.

“Our government believes that anyone struggling with addiction should have the opportunity to receive treatment and live a healthy and hopeful life,” Duke wrote.

“We also believe Albertans should feel safe where they live and work, and businesses should be able to operate without the disruption from social distancing.”

On Monday, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said the city has not formally discussed supervised consumption site operations at Sheldon M. Chumir with the province, but says a plan is needed.

He said, “We need to make sure that there is a transition process and that we are not just moving social disorganization and drug use from inside Sheldon Chumir out to nearby parks and public spaces.”

‘In the front row’

Calgary firefighters say they also want to see a plan.

“(We) are on the front lines of the opioid epidemic, and our members are unfortunately dealing with more and more overdoses,” Calgary Firefighters Association chief Jamie Blaney said in a statement.

“We know that closing (supervised consumption sites) will not reduce overdoses, and we are eager to see what solutions the provincial government will come up with.”

Earlier this year, Red Deer City Council urged the Alberta government to replace the Red Deer Overdose Prevention Site with other harm reduction measures. At the time, the city council said it planned to take a proactive approach to addressing the root causes of addiction and strengthening its treatment services.

Like Red Deer, municipal leadership in Lethbridge voted to request the Alberta government to close the city’s overdose prevention unit “as part of a planned transition to recovery-focused services.”

Data from Alberta’s Substance Use Monitoring Platform posted through the middle of this year shows that supervised consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge have consistently been the most visited sites through mid-2024.

a deadly crisis

Over the past two years, the number of overdose deaths has also declined dramatically in both cities. The decline has been less pronounced in Edmonton.

In 2023, Lethbridge had a rate of 109 deaths per 100,000 people. Data till August this year shows that the rate has fallen to less than 10.

Speaking to reporters last week, Mayor Blaine Hygen said he proposed closing the site because the money saved could be used for other important programs, and expressed skepticism between the city’s supervised consumption site and the reduction in deaths.

Morgan Magnuson, a registered nurse and instructor at the University of Lethbridge, wrote an open letter to Lethbridge City Council urging them to cancel their proposal, saying the closure put clinic users at risk.

As of Tuesday it had about 800 signatures.