'It is going to kill people': UCP to close Calgary's only supervised consumption site
Alanna Smith
The Alberta government says it will shutter Calgary’s central supervised drug-consumption site as part of a broader plan to overhaul existing harm-reduction services across the province.
© Provided by Calgary Herald The Safeworks supervised consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre is shown on Feb. 15, 2019.
A plan to close the Safeworks site, inside the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, and replace it with two others in the city was approved at a cabinet meeting Wednesday.
Justin Marshall, press secretary to Alberta’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, confirmed the government is “relocating” the existing site and its services.
“We will be relocating the existing supervised consumption site, which has been highly disruptive to the neighbourhood, and instead add SCS (supervised consumption services) capabilities within two existing partner organizations’ facilities situated in more appropriate locations,” Marshall in a statement Thursday.
He declined to offer specifics, including the identity of the community partners or when Safeworks will be closed.
The Beltline site has more visits than any other in Alberta, not including ARCHES in Lethbridge, which closed after the UCP pulled its funding last July following allegations of financial misconduct. Last year, 53,725 people used the Safeworks site, where clients can use substances under supervision of staff who are trained to reverse overdoses.
The pending closure comes amid an escalating overdose crisis in the province.
Alberta marked its deadliest year on record in 2020 with 1,144 opioid-related deaths — an 83 per cent increase from the year before. Numbers continue to trend upwards, with 228 substance use deaths in the first two months of 2021 alone, 70 of which were in Calgary.
The broader government plan, outlined in documents obtained by Postmedia, also includes changes for existing sites in Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Red Deer.
An AHS employee with experience working at the Safeworks site in Calgary said its closure will further harm vulnerable people, who are already at the whim of “failed” government policy to prevent overdose deaths.
A plan to close the Safeworks site, inside the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre, and replace it with two others in the city was approved at a cabinet meeting Wednesday.
Justin Marshall, press secretary to Alberta’s associate minister of mental health and addictions, confirmed the government is “relocating” the existing site and its services.
“We will be relocating the existing supervised consumption site, which has been highly disruptive to the neighbourhood, and instead add SCS (supervised consumption services) capabilities within two existing partner organizations’ facilities situated in more appropriate locations,” Marshall in a statement Thursday.
He declined to offer specifics, including the identity of the community partners or when Safeworks will be closed.
The Beltline site has more visits than any other in Alberta, not including ARCHES in Lethbridge, which closed after the UCP pulled its funding last July following allegations of financial misconduct. Last year, 53,725 people used the Safeworks site, where clients can use substances under supervision of staff who are trained to reverse overdoses.
The pending closure comes amid an escalating overdose crisis in the province.
Alberta marked its deadliest year on record in 2020 with 1,144 opioid-related deaths — an 83 per cent increase from the year before. Numbers continue to trend upwards, with 228 substance use deaths in the first two months of 2021 alone, 70 of which were in Calgary.
The broader government plan, outlined in documents obtained by Postmedia, also includes changes for existing sites in Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Red Deer.
An AHS employee with experience working at the Safeworks site in Calgary said its closure will further harm vulnerable people, who are already at the whim of “failed” government policy to prevent overdose deaths.
“It is going to kill people. It’s going to result in parking garages, alleys and bathroom overdose deaths,” said the man, whom Postmedia agreed not to identify.
© Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia The Safeworks supervised consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre is shown in Calgary on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
He said many clients won’t transition to services elsewhere because the connections and trust they formed at the former site will be lost.
“People who live in the world of addictions with mental-health concerns and experiencing homelessness, the first thing you have to do is build trust. If you’re shutting that (site) down, you’re cutting that ribbon of trust,” he said.
“How many times has that ribbon of trust been broken with our clients? And how many more times do you expect them to show up at the trough thinking ‘oh, this time I know you’re not going to?’ ”
In Edmonton, the government plans to “decentralize” sites, according to the documents. Only two of the original three sites remain after downtown Boyle Street Community Services announced it would discontinue operations at the end of April . Three men were found dead of suspected overdoses in a central park , which harm reduction advocates have linked to the closure.
There are no set plans for the overdose prevention site in Red Deer. The document said the province will “re-evaluate need for services once (a) recovery community is established.” The UCP has committed $5 million to build a 75-bed addictions treatment centre in the city.
In Grande Prairie, the government will transition the drug-use site into the Rotary House homeless shelter. The municipality is facing the highest overdose fatality rate in Alberta at 55.1 per 100,000 people, compared with the provincial average of 31.6 based on the latest provincial data.
He said many clients won’t transition to services elsewhere because the connections and trust they formed at the former site will be lost.
“People who live in the world of addictions with mental-health concerns and experiencing homelessness, the first thing you have to do is build trust. If you’re shutting that (site) down, you’re cutting that ribbon of trust,” he said.
“How many times has that ribbon of trust been broken with our clients? And how many more times do you expect them to show up at the trough thinking ‘oh, this time I know you’re not going to?’ ”
In Edmonton, the government plans to “decentralize” sites, according to the documents. Only two of the original three sites remain after downtown Boyle Street Community Services announced it would discontinue operations at the end of April . Three men were found dead of suspected overdoses in a central park , which harm reduction advocates have linked to the closure.
There are no set plans for the overdose prevention site in Red Deer. The document said the province will “re-evaluate need for services once (a) recovery community is established.” The UCP has committed $5 million to build a 75-bed addictions treatment centre in the city.
In Grande Prairie, the government will transition the drug-use site into the Rotary House homeless shelter. The municipality is facing the highest overdose fatality rate in Alberta at 55.1 per 100,000 people, compared with the provincial average of 31.6 based on the latest provincial data.
UCP TREATS JUNKIES AS CRIMINALSNOT AS ADDICTS NEEDING MEDICAL ATTENTION“Our principled approach will continue to provide services while protecting community safety,” said Marshall.
“Our government is committed to a high quality and easily accessible system of care for both mental health and addictions that includes a full continuum of supports, including services to reduce harm.”
The latest provincial budget outlined $15.7 million to fund five supervised drug-use and three overdose-prevention sites in Alberta. Marshall said there will be “increases” in funding to support the changes but did not offer specifics.
The latest provincial budget outlined $15.7 million to fund five supervised drug-use and three overdose-prevention sites in Alberta. Marshall said there will be “increases” in funding to support the changes but did not offer specifics.
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Elaine Hyshka, an assistant professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Public Health, said uprooting existing supervised consumption sites in the province “defies logic” as Alberta battles one of the highest overdose death rates in the country.
“Alberta really is bucking a national trend here where we see SCS (supervised consumption services) rolling out across the country,” she said. “If anything, we need to be keeping all the SCS we have and making new ones to support other parts of our cities and our the province that could benefit from having these life-saving interventions.”
Hyshka said the province’s safe drug-use sites were implemented after a careful review and consultation process under the former NDP government. The study included analysis on the location of overdose deaths, discarded drug paraphernalia and EMS calls for service, with input from service providers and stakeholders.
“A wholesale discarding of that work is really unfortunate, because planning health systems requires evidence and thoughtful, engaged process,” said Hyshka.
The UCP released a damning report — with disputed findings — on the socio-economic effect of supervised consumption services in March last year. It has been widely criticized by academics, scientists and health-care experts.
The document’s intent was to guide decision-making on the future of existing and future supervised drug-use sites in Alberta, though it is unclear what role it played in the government’s new strategy.
In March, a spokesperson for the associate minister of mental health and addictions said there were “no updates” on the province’s plans when asked about the report.
© Darren Makowichuk/Postmedia The Safeworks supervised consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre is shown in Calgary on Thursday, May 27, 2021.
Lori Sigurdson, NDP critic for mental health and addictions, said the government’s response to the devastating overdose crisis is a “tragic failure.”
“The UCP really just has their hands over their eyes. They are being blind in their decision-making,” said Sigurdson. “We know that four people a day are dying from overdose and we know that these supervised consumption sites save lives, so the government is making a huge mistake.”
After the three recent deaths in Edmonton and growing overdose rate in Lethbridge after the closure of its supervised consumption site, which was the busiest in North America, Sigurdson said she’s “absolutely” certain this move will result in additional deaths.
“The move to treatment beds and this ‘recovery model,’ as they call it, is just one component,” she said.
“But the harm reduction model, which includes the safe consumption sites, is so important. We need to support people where they are at and that’s what safe consumption sites do.”
alsmith@postmedia.com
Twitter: @alanna_smithh
Lori Sigurdson, NDP critic for mental health and addictions, said the government’s response to the devastating overdose crisis is a “tragic failure.”
“The UCP really just has their hands over their eyes. They are being blind in their decision-making,” said Sigurdson. “We know that four people a day are dying from overdose and we know that these supervised consumption sites save lives, so the government is making a huge mistake.”
After the three recent deaths in Edmonton and growing overdose rate in Lethbridge after the closure of its supervised consumption site, which was the busiest in North America, Sigurdson said she’s “absolutely” certain this move will result in additional deaths.
“The move to treatment beds and this ‘recovery model,’ as they call it, is just one component,” she said.
“But the harm reduction model, which includes the safe consumption sites, is so important. We need to support people where they are at and that’s what safe consumption sites do.”
alsmith@postmedia.com
Twitter: @alanna_smithh
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