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Quebec City health officials are preparing to open a new temporary supervised consumption site downtown in response to a sharp increase in fatal and non-fatal overdoses linked to an increasingly toxic illicit drug supply.<\/p>\n
People who smoke drugs such as crack cocaine and crystal methamphetamine will be able to do so at the outdoor site, with staff on hand to intervene in the event of an overdose. It is expected to open by the end of the summer, pending provincial approval. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a fairly urgent need to increase and improve supervised consumption services and overdose response,\u201d said Dr. Philippe Robert, the regional director of public health for Capitale-Nationale.<\/p>\n
The decision comes after health officials recorded a rise in overdoses this spring, particularly among people experiencing homelessness or living in precarious situations. At L\u2019Interzone, Quebec City\u2019s only supervised consumption site, staff responded to 22 non-fatal overdoses in just three months\u2014more than the 20 recorded during all of 2025.<\/p>\n
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At L\u2019Interzone, Quebec City\u2019s only supervised consumption site, staff responded to 22 non-fatal overdoses in three months. (Frederic Vigeant\/Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n
Robert said the increase reflects broader changes in the illicit drug market, with substances increasingly contaminated by powerful opioids and other drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe anticipate an increase compared with previous years,\u201d he said, noting that 43 suspected fatal overdoses are currently under investigation by Quebec’s coroner. While not all are expected to be confirmed, the number already exceeds the totals recorded in recent years.<\/p>\n
L\u2019Interzone has also seen demand continue to climb. It saw 45,000 users over the past year and now serves about 100 people every day, according to Marie-Christine Leclerc, a clinical nurse and manager of service programs at SABSA, the organization that operates the facility.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve had a very difficult spring,\u201d Leclerc said. \u201cOverdoses are increasing, contaminants are present in the drug supply, and our service is constantly seeing more people.\u201d<\/p>\n
She said staff continue to encourage clients to carry naloxone, have their drugs tested when possible and avoid using alone. Even so, the growing number of overdoses has placed significant pressure on the facility.<\/p>\n
The temporary site is expected to ease some of that strain by shifting inhalation services outdoors, allowing L\u2019Interzone to dedicate more of its existing capacity to people who inject drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAny initiative that increases overdose prevention and access to safer consumption services is excellent news,\u201d Leclerc said. \u201cWe hope it will reduce the pressure on a service that is already operating beyond capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n
While welcoming the project, Leclerc acknowledged concerns about its temporary nature.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe word \u2018temporary\u2019 is always a bit worrying because we don\u2019t know what comes next,\u201d she said. \u201cBut I see this as the beginning of a response to a need that has been identified for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Dr.](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/1784921172_817_default.jpg\")
Dr. Philippe Robert says the emergency site is intended to do more than prevent fatal overdoses. (Radio-Canada)<\/p>\n
Robert said the emergency site is intended to do more than prevent fatal overdoses. It will also move drug use away from public spaces and help maintain contact with people who are often disconnected from health care and community services.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to save lives,\u201d he said. \u201cBut we also want to keep people connected to services so they can access support when they\u2019re ready.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":823710,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[49,48,84],"class_list":["post-823709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-health"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823709","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=823709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/823709\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/823710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=823709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=823709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=823709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}