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<\/p>\nThe days are numbered for the two remaining supervised drug-consumption sites in Edmonton, and one in Grande Prairie.<\/p>\n
But just how many days are left is the bigger question.<\/p>\n
The province announced plans Friday to shutter consumption sites in Calgary and Lethbridge. That leaves the two Edmonton sites \u2014 at the George Spady Centre and Radius Community Health and Healing \u2014 plus Wapiti House in Grande Prairie.<\/p>\n
A consumption site at the Royal Alexandra Hospital was closed late last year.<\/p>\n
Alberta Mental Health and Addiction Minister Rick Wilson said the goal is to eventually close all consumption sites in the province because the Alberta recovery model calls for treatment, not the continued use of narcotics.<\/p>\n
Wilson said that Edmonton and Grande Prairie need more recovery communities in place and more people on the ground to help those struggling with addictions. When those are in place, the doors will be closed on Alberta\u2019s remaining consumption sites.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo as that evolves and we get more research, then we\u2019ll be able to to move forward on those ones, but it won\u2019t be in the immediate future,\u201d said Wilson.<\/p>\n
A new 450-bed \u201ccompassionate intervention centre\u201d aligns with government legislation that allows family members, police, health-care providers or peace officers to send someone into care who they believe is a danger to themselves or others.<\/p>\n
Public Safety and Emergency Services Minister Mike Ellis said that opioid-related overdose deaths are down 39 per cent in Alberta since the 2023 peak, and that the addition of 11 new \u201crecovery communities\u201d will support around 2,000 more Albertans each year.<\/p>\n
\u2018Epicentre of the opioid crisis\u2019<\/p>\n
Ellis said that Edmonton accounts for 60 per cent of all opioid-related deaths in the province, so that\u2019s why the plan for the Capital Region differs from most of the remainder of the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs the epicentre of the opioid crisis in Alberta, Edmonton, unfortunately, will continue to be a top priority moving forward as we lean in even more, along with municipal and community partners, \u201d said Ellis. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of work to do still in Edmonton, even with two drug consumption sites operating and significant investments made.\u201d<\/p>\n
Alberta statistics show that 613 drug poisoning deaths were recorded in Edmonton from January to November 2025. That\u2019s up from the 580 recorded in 2024. So, while Ellis touted a provincewide drop in opioid deaths, that trend is not evident in the capital.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Alberta substance use surveillance data for Edmonton: Drug deaths from 2016-2025<\/p>\n
Even though the province sees Edmonton as an outlier, the overall message is clear \u2014 the province does not support the ideas of \u201csafe supply\u201d or continuing consumption sites for a moment longer than the staff at Recovery Alberta tell them it is needed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a safe drug,\u201d said Ellis. \u201cI don\u2019t know who\u2019s telling you there\u2019s such thing as a safe drug. If that was the truth, then they would have no issues in British Columbia, where they are doling out hydromorphone to all of the addicts.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of the beginning of 2026, patients who are prescribed hydromorphone patches in B.C. have to use them under the supervision of a health professional or pharmacist, and can no longer take them home for use.<\/p>\n
Ellis said the province can help those with addictions, without sacrificing the wellbeing of communities. He said that people should not have to breathe in \u201csecondhand crystal meth smoke\u201d or be forced to walk around someone who\u2019s passed out on the street. And he said that consumption sites, in the end, don\u2019t steer people to recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to get them into recovery because we can help them,\u201d said Ellis. He said the province doesn\u2019t help addicts by \u201cputting poison into their arms.\u201d<\/p>\n
ssandor@postmedia.com<\/a><\/p>\n Related<\/p>\n Bookmark our website and support our journalism: Don\u2019t miss the news you need to know \u2014 add EdmontonJournal.com<\/a> and EdmontonSun.com<\/a> to your bookmarks and sign up for our newsletters here.<\/a><\/p>\n You can also support our journalism by becoming a digital subscriber. Subscribers gain unlimited access to The Edmonton Journal, Edmonton Sun, National Post and 13 other Canadian news sites. Support us by subscribing today: The Edmonton Journal<\/a> | The Edmonton Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The days are numbered for the two remaining supervised drug-consumption sites in Edmonton, and one in Grande Prairie.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":550522,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194294],"tags":[213957,49,48,30111,122435,23752,163980,32923,213956,3552,213958,208197],"class_list":["post-550521","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-edmonton","tag-alberta-mental-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-consumption","tag-drug-consumption","tag-edmonton","tag-government-of-alberta","tag-grande-prairie","tag-mike-ellis","tag-public-safety","tag-recovery-communities","tag-rick-wilson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550521","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=550521"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550521\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/550522"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=550521"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=550521"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=550521"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}