Health experts fear closing drug sites will lead to an increase in drug overdoses on Calgary’s streets

The provincial government announced Friday that the only supervised drug consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge will close at the end of June.

Calgary’s Supervised Consumption Site (SCS) was the first of its kind to open in Alberta in 2017. It has been praised by advocates as providing a life-saving service, but has also been criticized by those who blame it for increasing public drug use and calls to police in the surrounding area.

As the UCP government shifted its addiction services from a focus on harm reduction to more recovery-oriented care, the province first announced it planned to close Calgary’s SCS at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Center nearly five years ago. In December, Alberta’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions reiterated my promise To close the site.

Instead, the province plans to expand rapid access addiction treatment services to Chumir to improve same-day access to addiction counseling and case management.

Rick Wilson, Alberta’s minister of mental health and addictions, said, “I don’t want to keep people in this cycle of addiction. I want to get them into recovery as quickly as possible.”

The province also plans to offer more on-site intake support provided by a registered nurse in Chumir, increased bed and intake hours at the Renfrew Recovery Centre, and around-the-clock outreach recovery response teams in downtown Calgary to respond to overdoses and connect people to treatment and medical care.

Supervised consumption sites provide a place for people to use pre-obtained medications while being monitored by staff in a clean environment. The sites also connect clients to recovery and treatment services, and respond to overdoses, including giving oxygen or naloxone.

Chumir SCS also provided education on drug poisoning prevention and other harm reduction topics, and training on how to respond to overdose.

In the first three quarters of 2025, Calgary SCS responded to 467 drug-related adverse events – a classification that includes overdose – where staff provided aid, administered oxygen or naloxone, or called EMS.

Throughout 2024, they responded to 1,035 incidents.

When asked what the province’s plan is for those who do not want to enter recovery, Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said the province will ensure medical facilities, social workers and police officers are educated in recovery.

He said that public safety was a factor in closing the sites, and that Albertans would not accept negative impacts on their surroundings.

“You can care deeply about people struggling with addiction and still believe that communities deserve to be safe,” Ellis said. “Our government refuses to pretend that one has to come at the expense of the other.”

Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he has “cautious optimism” about closing SCS if the right supports are introduced to improve access to treatment and recovery, while maintaining a strong response to overdose and community safety.

“Moving forward, our shared focus must be on helping people move toward recovery while saving lives and keeping communities safe,” Farkas said.

Janet Eremenko, Alberta NDP’s shadow minister for mental health and addictions, said closing SCS services in both cities would encourage drug use in public places, making it even less safe for the public and health-care workers.

“A fair system doesn’t abandon anyone. It meets them where they are, and helps them survive and get better,” Eremenko said in a statement Friday.

Discontinuing SCS could lead to more public drug use

Monty Ghosh, who lives eight minutes from Chumir, said he thinks public safety concerns with SCS are not as bad as sometimes made out, but Calgarians should prepare for the situation to get worse if drug use is pushed out into the open when the site closes.

Ghosh, an addiction expert and professor at the University of Calgary and the University of Alberta, said closing the site could lead to more drug use and overdoses in public. And for the new 24/7 teams to be effective, Ghosh said they must have naloxone kits, provide sterile supplies, clean needle debris, and connect drug users to social services and treatment programs.

“Those are all things that I see them doing that the supervised consumption sites already offer,” Ghosh said.

He argues that the difference is that the setting of a high-volume response will be less likely to be in a health center with support and resources at hand.

“Whenever we revive individuals, and this is a major principle in medicine, you want to do it in a controlled environment, you don’t want to do it out on concrete,” he said.

The Calgary site serves as a low-barrier gateway for people to access the health system, Ghosh said. She said she’s seen many people go to SCS clients for opioid treatment or recovery, and regular appointments actually increase the likelihood of someone connecting with a social worker and ultimately recovering.

“These are safe places for them where they can go and get ongoing support to make sure they survive,” Ghosh said.

Ghosh said the site closure could lead to an increase in ambulance calls and emergency room visits, especially at the urgent care in Chumir. And a slower overdose response could lead to more people needing long-term care, putting more strain on the health system.

Lethbridge site closure raises questions

A supervised consumption site in Lethbridge opened in 2020 after the closure of a larger site.

Sarah Amies, director of the Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone, said she has questions about what the province’s plans for alternative services will look like in reality.

“We need to know, will there be outreach teams and will they really be 24/7 and responsive?” He said. “Will treatments be available on demand? Is there coordination of those treatments with that service?”

Amyes said she is concerned that losing overdose prevention sites could lead to people who are using drugs being relocated throughout the city, rather than congregating outside on the North Side where shelters and overdose prevention sites are located.

For Ken Kissick, it’s good salvation.

Kissick is the founder of Streets Alive Mission. The organization helps people on the streets in Lethbridge with free services such as haircuts and foot care. It also runs a de-addiction programme.

“I’m excited to hear it’s closing,” Kissick said. “I know there are different opinions on this, but from our perspective, the recovery in Alberta is working.”

Red Deer Study Factors in SCS Completion

Wilson said that was a factor in his decision recent research From the Canadian Center of Recovery Excellence, a major corporation of the UCP government.

While the study found that closing Red Deer’s only overdose prevention site last year did not lead to more overdose deaths, emergency department visits or ambulance calls among former site users, it has been criticized for its scope and potential conflict of interest.

Ellen Hischka, an associate professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, said the six-month period used in the study to analyze data related to the Red Deer site was not long enough to definitively support a policy decision to close the site.

“The authors themselves caution about jumping to conclusions that it is safe to discontinue OPS based on their findings, and they say more research is needed,” Hishka said.

“Right now, we have one study that contradicts a larger body of research that shows these sites are helpful.”

Hishka said he believes closing SCS services is “short-sighted” and that it takes away a way to get emergency assistance.

“The illicit drug supply remains highly volatile and very dangerous, and it is very likely that we will see an increase in drug poisoning deaths in Calgary and Lethbridge in the near future,” Hishka said.

“Now we have one less tool to prevent those deaths.”

Three SCS services will remain open

Over the past two years, the Alberta government has closed overdose prevention sites red deerAlso SCS at Royal Alexandra Hospital edmonton. The announcement of more SCS closures in Alberta also comes the same week Ontario Government Confirmed it would cut its funding for seven SCS services. Ontario Premier Doug Ford referenced the study in Red Deer when defending his government’s decision.

Two additional sites providing the service are in Edmonton, as well as one in Grande Prairie. Wilson said the province has no plans to close these sites at this time, but could expand once other recovery and treatment services are further developed in these cities.

“We’re going to continue to work to get our recovery communities working and get everything in order before we actually close those sites,” Wilson said.