Calgary, Lethbridge safe consumption sites to close at end of June

Safe drug consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge will close in just over three months, the province announced Friday.

Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis said services at the Safeworks site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre on 4 Street SW in the Beltline and a the service located at the Lethbridge Shelter will end on June 30.

“Consumption sites were introduced at the start of the opioid crisis as a short-term emergency measure,” says Ellis. “Treatment options and recovery support were far more limited than they are today.”

“Government funding will be reinvested in recovery-oriented supports that respond to overdoses, connect people directly to care and steer them into treatment. People will not be left without support.”

The province says the money previously allocated to the sites will be invested in expanded addiction treatment, medical detox, recovery supports, and 24-hour outreach teams aimed to help more people move toward recovery.

In Calgary specifically, the province says the services that were offered at the Safeworks site will transition to:

• Expanded Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) services, increasing same-day access to addiction counselling and case management.
• Enhanced opioid dependency services, including additional on-site intake support provided by a registered nurse.
• Enhanced medical withdrawal management at Renfrew Recovery Centre, increasing capacity from 30 to 40 beds and extending intake hours.
• 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24-7) Outreach Recovery Response Teams operating in the downtown area to respond to overdoses, provide stabilization and connect people directly to treatment and medical care.

Closure of site has been debated for years

The closure of the site has been an ongoing conversation for years. Former Premier Jason Kenney first raised the possibility in 2022.

The latest update on the issue was a “symbolic vote” held by members of Calgary’s executive committee in early February that would have signaled support for the closure of the site. It was narrowly defeated.

A successful vote from council would have been performative, as municipal health care is a provincial responsibility, but their support would’ve strayed from the neutral position taken by the past city council.

The Safeworks site first opened in October 2017 and provides a place where people who use drugs are monitored in a hygienic environment to reduce to the harm of substance use. Users of the site also get additional support and connection to recovery-oriented services like substance use treatment and supports, mental health care, and housing.

Those in support of the site argue it has prevented tens of thousands of fatal overdoses in its 9 years of operation.

Proponents for its closure say the area around the site is a hub for crime, abandoned drug paraphernalia, and litter.

In exchange for the site, Alberta’s government has said it will introduce a treatment program under Recovery Alberta. Few details have been provided on this plan. A city document says it would include counselling and treatment planning, links to community pharmacists, other addiction treatment services and HIV screening.

-With files from The Canadian Press