Province shutters more supervised consumption, cites highly criticized study by Crown corp.

By ZOE MASON on March 21, 2026.

zmason@medicinehatnews.com

The government of Alberta is moving to close two more safe consumption sites as it pushes forward with its Alberta Recovery Model.

The province will close the mobile unit site located outside the Lethbridge Shelter, as well as a site in Calgary, on June 30.

The province says funding for those sites will be reinvested into expanded addiction treatment and recovery supports.

It’s part of the UCP government’s ongoing transition to what it calls the Alberta Recovery Model, an approach to addiction that forgoes supervised consumption and safe supply for expanded treatment options.

“The government has been very clear from the start, addiction is a health-care issue that requires treatment and recovery focused supports, and a health system works best when it helps people heal and get well, instead of leaving them in the cycle through cycle of crisis,” said Deputy Premier and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services Mike Ellis at a press conference Friday.

Ellis claims safe supply is a “failed policy.”

“It doesn’t work,” he told reporters. “It’s not something that we’re going to do.”

Ellis told reporters the province has recorded a 39 per cent decrease in opioid-related overdose deaths since a record-high in 2023. He says it has fallen by more in Calgary and Lethbridge, where deaths have shrunk by 65 per cent and 90 per cent, respectively.

The ministers cited a study in their announcement that found the closure of an overdose prevention site in Red Deer resulted in no increase in mortality, ER visits or ambulance calls.

The study, produced by the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, has been criticized by several media outlets for its narrow scope and timeline. The report itself attests that its results should be interpreted as “inconclusive” due to these limitations.

The study also failed to acknowledge simultaneous initiatives, such as installation of a mobile clinic in place of the site, that contributed to the positive result.

Meanwhile, first responders in Red Deer told CBC they are contending with a significant increase in calls to opioid-related events since the closure of the site.

The entity that authored the report, the Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence, is also a Crown corporation founded and funded by the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction.

“I try to base all my decisions on research and evidence,” Mental Health and Addiction Minister Rick Wilson said on Friday. “So to have that study now gives us one more tool to look at as to how we move forward.”

Ellis said his government “definitely won’t be opening up any new ones.” He said in the long term, his government hopes to also close remaining sites in Edmonton and Grande Prairie.

In Lethbridge, drug consumption services will be transitioned to a range of other recovery-oriented services, including expanded same-day counselling services and 10 new medical withdrawal management beds.

There are five DCS sites operating in Alberta, located in Calgary, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie and Edmonton. The Red Deer site was closed in March 2025, and a site at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital was closed in December 2025.

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