Calgary’s only supervised consumption site will permanently close its doors this week, but what exactly its clients and residents can expect after it shuts down remains unclear.
Earlier this year, the Alberta government set a June 30 end date for the supervised consumption sites (SCS) in Calgary and Lethbridge. The province first announced it intended to close Calgary’s site five years ago, before renewing the promise in December, amid an overall shift in addiction services from focusing on harm reduction to recovery-oriented care.
Calgary’s was the first SCS to open in Alberta in 2017, eventually taking up residence at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in the Beltline neighbourhood. It’s been credited as a life-saving service, and targeted with criticism due to public drug use and calls to police in its vicinity.
Supervised consumption sites offer a place for people to use pre-obtained drugs, while being monitored by staff in a hygienic environment. They also act as a bridge to other recovery and treatment services, offer education and peer support, and employ staff who can immediately respond to overdoses.
The province is replacing the Chumir’s SCS with a rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinic in the same location, to offer same-day access to addiction counselling and case management. It also announced it would roll out a 24/7 rapid response team near the Chumir.
On Wednesday, Alberta’s Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction said the 24/7 teams would include paramedics, nurses and peer support workers. The teams will be tasked with responding to overdoses, connecting people to health-care services and withdrawal management.
The province also said it plans to increase capacity at the Renfrew Recovery Centre, and up withdrawal management capacity at the Calgary Recovery Community and at Alpha House.
Recovery Alberta did not respond to a CBC News request for more detail about the size and training of the 24/7 teams prior to publication.
Potential for more strain on emergency services
The SCS closures in Calgary and Lethbridge follow similar moves in the last two years in Edmonton and Red Deer.
After the Red Deer site was shuttered, the city’s firefighters said they saw a rise in opioid-related calls.
Even before Calgary’s SCS closes, the local fire department is responding to an increasing number of such calls. The department’s 2025 annual report shows firefighters responded to over 60 per cent more substance-related calls last year compared to 2024.
On Monday, the fire department said its latest data shows a 283-per-cent increase in substance-related calls in the first five months of 2026, compared to the same period last year. It said that hike was largely driven by calls about accidental overdoses, poisoning and ingestion involving unconscious patients.
“Contributing factors include an ever-increasing, more toxic and unpredictable drug supply, winter-related vulnerability, and increased public-space medical emergencies,” said an emailed statement from the fire department.
Cecilia Fraser, lead outreach co-ordinator with Street Cats YYC, said the harm reduction advocacy group expects to respond to a higher number of overdoses after Calgary’s site closes.
Fraser said the strategy to replace the SCS also risks throwing to the wayside relationships that Safeworks staff at the Chumir developed in the Beltline and with clients for nearly a decade.
“It served as a bridge for people who faced shame and stigma for years when trying to access health care,” said Fraser.
“It feels like there’s so many issues created by the closure that one outreach team and one RAAM clinic with set hours doesn’t have the ability to respond to the issues being created.”
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas said on Monday he’s cautiously optimistic about the province’s plan to close his city’s supervised consumption site, but said more investment is needed to respond to mental health and addictions issues around the province. (CBC News)
Mayor Jeromy Farkas said on Monday he’s cautiously optimistic about the SCS closing.
That’s despite him saying the city has heard from Calgary fire and police that they expect the site’s closure will put greater strain on their work.
And he noted city council still wants to see more investment in addictions and mental health care from the province.
“Our commitment as a council has been to net new support for mental health and addiction strategy, and we’re going to continue to call on the province to provide net new resources,” said Farkas.
Concern for ‘our neighbours’
Calgary’s supervised consumption site responded to 701 adverse events, such as overdoses, last year.
Alberta has recorded a decline in opioid-related deaths since experiencing a peak in 2023, but still reported 65 per cent more EMS responses to suspected opioid-related overdoses last year.
In the Beltline, residents are concerned about how the SCS shutting down could push more drug use into the open, said Peter Oliver, a director with the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association.
The Calgary Fire Department is already responding to a rise in substance-related calls, which it recorded in its 2025 annual report. (Oseremen Irete/CBC)
While some are concerned it could lead to more crowded emergency rooms and critical care spaces, Oliver said Beltline residents are also worried about their neighbours’ safety and a toxic drug supply.
“The people who are out there on the streets suffering from these addictions are our neighbours too,” said Oliver.
“There’s a concern, obviously, that the SCS was saving lives, it was reversing overdoses, and we’re going to see an increase in deaths among our fellow Calgarians.”