The City of Calgary will now be joining the ranks of Canadian cities offering safe areas where addicts can consume drugs while having access to the life-saving measures they need in case of an overdose.
Health Canada officials say Calgary will be the first supervised consumption site in the province, offering the services from a temporary site while the permanent facility is being built.
Just last week, Lethbridge and Edmonton were approved to have similar sites. The whole initiative is part of Canada’s effort to reduce the growing number of drug overdoses and the spread of dangerous diseases.
"By bringing supervised consumption services to this busy health facility in the Beltline neighbourhood, we are working to save lives and to help connect people who use substances with vital wraparound health and social supports. I’m grateful for the hard work of Alberta Health Services and community groups working to establish these life-saving public health services in facilities around the province," said Brandy Payne, Alberta's associate Minister of Health.
Alberta health officials say the safe consumption site is proven to reduce drug use in public and cut down on the number of discarded needles in public areas.
The province announced its plan to open a safe consumption site back in June at the Sheldon Chumir Centre in downtown Calgary.
Officials at the time said that there is an immediate need for such sites in the city.
In August, the province upped the ante by providing a grant of $1.2M to build the city at the Chumir and anotther $1.03M to fund services at the site when it opens.
The sites would allow addicts to consume drugs in a controlled environment while having access to medical attention and equipment if required.
The facilities will also offer counselling and drug treatment for those who are willing to accept the help.
The goal is to have the sites all up and running by the end of 2017 or early in 2018.
So far in 2017, Alberta has reported 315 fentanyl-related overdose deaths. There were 586 suspected opioid-related deaths in 2016.
