Future of Calgary’s supervised consumption site uncertain after latest provincial promise to close it

How the Alberta government will replace Calgary’s only supervised consumption site, and what kind of timeline exists for the site’s future in 2026, remains unclear after the province once again announced its closure. last week,

Alberta is closing the site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Center next year, the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions said in a statement Monday.

The ministry said it intended to work with municipal partners and agencies to offer more treatment and recovery services instead of closing sites as in the past. red deer And edmonton For example.

The province said it plans to share more details for Calgary early next year.

The site was the first of its kind in Alberta. Operated out of a hospital in the inner city BeltLine neighborhood, it is a place for people to access pre-obtained medications under the supervision of a registered nurse trained in overdose response.

Since its opening, the center has been praised for providing a life-saving service, while also being criticized by those who blame it for increasing public drug use and calls to police in its surrounding area.

Mayor to consider future of site in meeting with Premier

Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said Monday that despite the ministry’s statement, the city has not received any formal correspondence about the future of the citation.

Farkas hopes the city will have a seat at the table to discuss the future of the site and how continuity of services is provided at its location. He said he hopes to meet with Premier Danielle Smith soon to raise the topic.

“My understanding is that this is a repetition of previous statements made by previous officials of the provincial government,” Farkas said.

For years, they’ve been talking about shutting it down, but nothing concrete has come out about what’s actually going to take its place.-Janet Eremenko, Alberta NDP Shadow Minister for Mental Health and Addiction

UCP government first announces they will close Calgary’s supervised consumption site in 2021About three years after it opened. In the beginning, Opening of the province was discussed two replacement sitesBut those plans never came to fruition.

Last fall, Calgary city council debated whether it should ask the province to close the site, but ultimately voted against it due to health services being provincial jurisdiction.

Local debate began when the provincial government shifted its addiction service model to favor more recovery-focused careEarlier this year, Smith said his government was considering closing the siteBut did not add more details.

Recovery Alberta, an organization the province created to take over the delivery of mental health and addictions services, said Monday it has not received official confirmation of the timeline for closing Calgary’s supervised consumption site. But the organization said if it meets the deadline it will work with the provincial government to ensure a smooth transition in services.

Ward 13 County. Dan McLean represents the southwest corner of the city, away from the site, but he has long supported its closure.

“It’s like a Christmas present. I welcome it,” Maclean said of the province’s announcement.

,What we have done in the past is not working and we need to do something new.”

Ward 7 County. Mike Atkinson, who represents the city’s downtown just north of the BeltLine, said the problem with the current site is that it is the only one in Calgary, and additional smaller sites around the city would yield better results.

“We have a problem that we don’t really have enough sites distributed,” Atkinson said. “And really what it has done is it has caused aggregation around that site.”

The site saw a surge in visitor numbers earlier this year

The province’s latest announcement comes after Calgary’s supervised consumption site saw an average of 792 unique visitors per month in the second quarter of this year — the highest number since the beginning of 2020. Provincial data shows the site saw a total of 12,478 visits during that quarter.

Rebecca Haines-Sah said the increased usage shows there is still a need for the site and may reflect increasing levels of trust from its customers.

The Cumming School of Medicine professor said that while investing in treatment is almost always positive, treatment alone will not replace the site’s existing work to prevent and respond to overdoses.

“The deaths involved supervised consumption sites and overdose prevention sites that were set up to respond to a public health emergency. And the treatment is not responding to the immediate risk of death,” Haynes-Sah said.

He said replacing supervised consumption sites with other services could mean the needs of existing clients who are not ready for recovery or treatment may not be met. She wants the province to consult with customers more, and if the government intends to close the site, she said it should instead give funding to grassroots organizations to do the work.

“They need money to purchase naloxone, staff peer outreach, other supplies, needle distribution, go out and meet people,” Haynes-Sah said.

Disappointment due to lack of provincial planning

Geoff Allen is a Calgary resident who lived in the BeltLine near a supervised consumption site. Due to security concerns, they rented out their old property when their children were born more than five years ago.

Allen would like to see a plan from the province on what it will do to mitigate some of the consequences of closing the site.

But he doubts the province will follow through on its latest promise.

“Based on previous announcements I’m not sure it will be shut down, but we’ll see what happens,” Allen said.

The lack of a plan has also worried Alberta NDP shadow minister of mental health and addiction Janet Eremenko, who said the province has discussed closing the site for years without any concrete details about a timeline or replacement services.

Eremenko, MLA for Calgary-Curry, said, “When these services stop, it doesn’t mean that drug use stops; it doesn’t disappear. In fact, it goes to public places. It goes to city hall, downtown libraries, stairwells and office stops.”

“For many, many years, they’ve been talking about closing it down but there’s never really been anything concrete about what’s going to replace it.”