Judge grants injunction restoring 24-hour access at Red Deer overdose prevention site

An Alberta judge has ordered the province to restore full-time operations at Red Deer's only overdose prevention site, less than two weeks after its hours were cut in half.

Red Deer Court of King's Bench Justice Gillian Marriott granted an interim injunction Monday that reverses the reduction of OPS hours ahead of the site's planned closure at the end of March.

A lawyer for Recovery Alberta, the branch of Alberta's health system responsible for mental health and addictions services, said during the court hearing that it will likely take about three days to restore 24-hour service.

Earlier this month, the site moved from 24/7 service to being open only from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.

At the same time, teams of paramedics and nurses began overnight patrols around the OPS to respond to potential overdoses.

Monday's court decision comes after lawyer Avnish Nanda filed a lawsuit on behalf of a man with opioid use disorder named Aaron Brown.

Brown argues that closing the OPS is a violation of his Charter rights, as well as the rights of other site users. He argues they will be left at an increased risk of a fatal opioid poisoning without a designated space to use illicit drugs under medical supervision and immediate help to reverse an overdose.

"[The decision] is a real recognition that what the government is trying to do here could imperil my client's life and the lives of hundreds, if not thousands, of other vulnerable central Albertans," Nanda said in an interview.

Marriott's decision comes after Nanda, and Nathaniel Gartke, a lawyer representing the Alberta government, argued their cases last Friday.

Gartke told the court that the province wasn't behind the specific decision to reduce the Red Deer OPS hours. He said the minister simply gave direction to Recovery Alberta to "gradually transition" the OPS out, and the health authority made the call about how to do that.

Gartke argued that restoring OPS hours now will mean removing other recovery-oriented services that have started rolling out in its place, which could cause harm.

Ultimately, Marriott found that the legal criteria for granting an interim injunction were met.

"I do not accept the respondent can deny responsibility for a decision they have control of," she said Monday.

"The respondent states that alternate services are available, and that Alberta funds several programs designed to prevent the harms the applicant alleges. However, in my review of the material, there's no equivalent of the OPS provided by the government."