Alberta government to cut Red Deer overdose prevention site hours ahead of spring 2025 closure
CBC
Operating hours at the Red Deer overdose prevention site could be cut in half within weeks as the Alberta government moves toward complete closure in 2025.
The province announced in September that it would shutter the city's only supervised drug-consumption service next spring. The OPS funding is being redirected to an addiction medicine clinic, "recovery coach" outreach workers and additional detox services at Red Deer's Safe Harbour homeless shelter.
Overdose response teams staffed by nurses and paramedics will also patrol in and around the shelter, with 12-hour overnight shifts expected to start Jan. 1, 2025.
Once that begins, 24-hour supervised consumption services in Red Deer will be reduced to 12 hours every day, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., according to an affidavit from an official in Alberta's ministry of mental health and addiction. By April 1, the overdose teams will be working around the clock, and the OPS will close.
The affidavit says that the change is happening in stages, "In order to ensure a smooth transition and that no individuals are left without care."
The document was filed in the Red Deer Court of King's Bench last week in response to legal action from Red Deer resident Aaron Brown, who has been diagnosed with severe opioid use disorder and relies on OPS services daily.
"It is terrifying to imagine what my life will become once the Red Deer OPS closes," Brown said in a November affidavit.
"It will essentially be a death sentence for me and the many others who use the facility."
Brown's lawyer, Avnish Nanda, filed the application on Nov. 18, alleging that shutting down supervised consumption services in Red Deer violates the Charter rights of substance users in the central Alberta city.
"There are hundreds of people who rely on this site each month. There are thousands of individual consumption events at the Red Deer OPS," Nanda said.
"This is as urgent as it gets."
Nanda is also seeking an injunction to halt the OPS closure. He said after learning about plans for stopping overnight services, he wants the application to be heard as soon as possible.
"This seems to come out of nowhere, and folks are not ready for this major change," he said.
The allegations in the legal filings have not been proven in court.
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