Between 130 and 150 people are using the temporary overdose prevention site in Red Deer daily, according to Turning Point. (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

OPIOID CRISIS

Province halts funding for supervised consumption sites pending review

Jun 2, 2019 | 10:29 AM

The United Conservatives are following through on a campaign promise to halt funding for supervised consumption sites in Alberta until a review into the merits of the practice has been completed.

The move applies to both pending supervised consumption projects and sites that are already up and running.

Three sites are affected — permanent ones in Red Deer and Medicine Hat and a mobile site in Calgary.

Red Deer’s temporary overdose prevention site, which opened in October, will be part of the review and will continue to operate for the time being.

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“We will not, as a government, support drug injection sites unless they have gone through extensive local community consultations, and unless we know what the social and economic impacts will be,” Premier Jason Kenney told rdnewsNOW in April.

Kenney has questioned the NDP’s “single-minded focus on illegal drug injection sites” and has said supervised consumption sites in Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver have done little good.

Brian Buick, spokesperson for Jason Luan, Associate Minister of Mental Health and Addictions, says completing the review is a top priority for the UCP.

“We’re going to make sure the sites, as they are currently operating, are meeting their mandate, so saving lives,” Buick says.

“We also want to make sure sites are not just focusing on the consumption of drugs, but also offering the wraparound services, and, especially, that they’re linking people to a path to appropriate treatment and recovery services.”

Buick says the third focus of the review is the concerns of residents and business/property owners in areas where supervised consumption services are located.

“We have not set a specific timeline yet, but this is a priority for our government,” he adds. “We’ll be moving quickly will have more details in the coming weeks.”

A panel to conduct the review has yet to be selected.

Stacey Carmichael, executive director at Turning Point, the agency which oversees Red Deer’s supervised consumption services, says they are aware of the review.

“We aren’t sure what it looks like yet, but we are confident that the government will find that the research, and the positive health and economic outcomes support supervised consumption as a necessary part of a comprehensive strategy,” she said.

Turning Point is preparing to move their entire operation from their current home on Little Gaetz Avenue to the Railyards district, where they’ve started work on a permanent supervised consumption site.

The latest statistics for Red Deer’s temporary overdose prevention site show there were 405 unique clients from Oct. 1, 2018 to May 1, 2019. There have been 409 overdoses, 37 of which required EMS assistance. There were a total of 17,621 visits, with a daily average between 130 and 150.

Fourth quarter stats from 2018 showed Red Deer had the highest rate of apparent accidental drug overdoses related to fentanyl of the seven major cities. Red Deer’s rate was 43.8 per 100,000 people, with the next highest being Grande Prairie at 31.0.