The lone supervised drug consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge will close at the end of June, the provincial government announced on Friday.
Calgary’s supervised consumption site (SCS) was the first of its kind to open in Alberta in 2017. It has been lauded by advocates as providing a life-saving service, but also targeted with criticism from people who blame it for public drug use and calls to police in its vicinity.
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 Centre nearly five years ago. In December, Alberta’s Mental Health and Addiction ministry renewed its promise to shutter the site.
In its place, the province plans to expand rapid access addiction medicine services at the Chumir to improve same-day access to addiction counselling and case management.
“I don’t want to keep people in this cycle of addiction. I want to get them into recovery as quickly as we can,” said Rick Wilson, Alberta’s minister of mental health and addiction.
The province also plans to offer more on-site intake support at the Chumir provided by a registered nurse, increased beds and intake hours at the Renfrew Recovery Centre, and around-the-clock outreach recovery response teams in downtown Calgary responding to overdoses and connecting people to treatment and medical care.
Supervised consumption sites offer a place for people to use pre-obtained drugs, while being monitored by staff in a hygienic environment. The sites also connects clients to recovery and treatment services, and responds to overdoses, including through administering oxygen or naloxone.
The Chumir SCS also provided education on drug poisoning prevention and other harm reduction subjects, and training for how to respond to overdoses.
In the first three quarters of 2025, the Calgary SCS responded to 467 drug-related adverse events — a classification which includes overdoses — where staff provided support, administered oxygen or naloxone, or called EMS.
Throughout 2024, they responded to 1,035 events.
When asked what the province’s plan is for people who don’t 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 all educated in recovery.
He added that public safety was a factor in closing the sites, and that Albertans won’t accept the negative impacts around them.
“You can care deeply about people battling addiction and still believe that communities deserve to be safe,” said Ellis. “Our government refuses to pretend that one must come at the expense of the other.”
The UCP government says it is shifting its addiction services from a focus on harm reduction to more recovery-oriented care. While some blame the facilities for increasing public disorder and open drug use, some physicians worry the province is cutting off a lifeline to prevent overdose deaths.
Mayor Jeromy Farkas said he has “cautious optimism” about the SCS closure, if the right supports are introduced to improve access to treatment and recovery, while maintaining a strong response to overdoses and community safety.
“Moving forward, our shared focus must be on saving lives and helping people move toward recovery while keeping communities safe,” said Farkas.
Janet Eremenko, the Alberta NDP’s shadow minister for Mental Health and Addiction, said closing the SCS services in both cities will push more drug use to public places, making it even less safe for the public and health care workers.
“A proper system doesn’t give up on anyone. It meets them where they are, and helps to both keep them alive and get better,” said Eremenko in a statement on Friday.
Closing SCS could lead to more public drug use
Living eight minutes from the Chumir, Monty Ghosh said he finds public safety concerns with the SCS aren’t as bad as they’re sometimes described, but Calgarians should be prepared for the situation to worsen if drug use is pushed more out in the open when the site closes.
Ghosh, an addictions specialist and professor at the University of Calgary and University of Alberta, said the site closing could lead to more drug use and overdoses in public. And for the new 24/7 teams to be effective, Ghosh said they should have naloxone kits, provided sterile supplies, clean needle debris, and connect drug users to social services and treatment programs.
“Those are all things that I see them doing, which is exactly what the supervised consumption site already provides,” said Ghosh.
The difference, he argues, is the setting of an overdose response will be less likely to be in a health centre with supports and resources at hand.
“Whenever we resuscitate individuals, and this is a key principle in medicine, you want to do it in a controlled environment, you don’t want to be doing it on the concrete outside,” he said.
Ghosh said, Calgary’s site served as a low-barrier entryway for people to access the health system. He said he’s seen many people go from SCS clients to accessing opioid treatment or recovery, and regular visits actually increase someone’s chances of connecting to a social worker, and eventually to recovery.
“These are safe spaces for them to go to and get continued supports to make sure that they stay alive,” said Ghosh.
Ghosh added that ambulance calls and emergency room visits could all increase with the site’s closure, especially in urgent care at the Chumir itself. And a slower overdose response could lead to more people who need long-term care, all of which puts more strain on the health system.
Lethbridge site closure leads to questions
The supervised consumption site in Lethbridge opened in 2020 after a larger site closed down.
Downtown Lethbridge Business Revitalization Zone director Sarah Amies said she has questions about what the province’s plans for alternative services will look like in reality.
“We need to know whether there will be outreach teams and are they going to truly be 24/7 and responsive?” she said. “Will the treatment be accessible on demand? Is there coordination of that service of those treatments?”
Amies said she’s worried losing the overdose prevention site could move people who are using drugs throughout downtown, instead of clustering just outside its northern edge where the shelter and overdose prevention site are located.
For Ken Kissick, it’s good riddance.
Kissick is the founder of Streets Alive Mission. The organization helps people on the streets in Lethbridge with free services like haircuts and foot care. It also runs an addiction recovery program.
“I’m excited to hear that it is closing,” Kissick said. “I know there’s a different opinions on it, but from our perspective, recovery is working in Alberta.”
Red Deer study factor in SCS closure
Wilson said one factor in his decision was recent research from the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, a crown corporation by the UCP government.
While the study reported last year’s closure of Red Deer’s only overdose prevention site didn’t lead to more overdose deaths, emergency department visits or ambulance calls among former site users, it’s been criticized for its scope and for potential conflicts of interest.
Elaine Hyshka, an associate professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, said the six-month period the study used to analyze data related to the Red Deer site wasn’t long enough to definitively back up a policy decision to close the site.
“The authors themselves caution about concluding that it’s safe to close an OPS based on their findings, and they say more research is needed,” said Hyshka.
“Right now, we have one study that is standing in contrast to a large body of research that shows these sites are helpful.”
Hyshka added she thinks closing SCS services is “short-sighted,” and takes away an avenue to receive emergency aid.
“The illegal drug supply remains highly volatile and very dangerous, and it’s very possible that we will see spikes in drug poisoning deaths in Calgary and Lethbridge in the near future,” said Hyshka.
“Now we have one less tool to prevent those deaths.”
Three SCS services remain open
In the last two years, the Alberta government has closed the overdose prevention site in Red Deer, as well as the SCS at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton. The announcement of more SCS closures in Alberta also comes the same week the Ontario government confirmed it will cut its funding to 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 remain in Edmonton, as well as one in Grande Prairie. Wilson said the province doesn’t have any plans currently to close these sites, but could once other recovery and treatment services in these cities evolve further.
“We’re going to keep working to get our recovery communities working and everything in place before we actually close those sites down,” said Wilson.
