Province replacing supervised consumption site at Royal Alex with recovery-oriented service

The province is closing a supervised consumption site at the Royal Alexandra Hospital and replacing it with a recovery-focused clinic.

The Alberta government is shutting down the supervised drug-consumption site at Edmonton’s Royal Alexandra Hospital (RAH) and replacing it with a recovery-oriented addiction service.

“Hospitals are places of healing and services provided in hospital settings should support treatment, recovery, and wellness — not perpetuate addiction,” said a statement from the Ministry of Mental Health and Addictions.

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The province said it will be establishing a Rapid Access Addiction Medicine (RAAM) clinic and a Recovery Response team at the hospital in place of the supervised consumption site which will cease operations Dec. 16.

“The RAH site saw limited use – averaging only about 22 unique clients per month in 2024 – making it difficult to justify the costs amid acute care pressures,” said the ministry.

The RAAM clinic will offer access to addiction medicine, case management, counselling and peer support for outpatients and those redirected to the clinic from the hospital’s emergency department or following hospital discharge, said the ministry.

Operating 24/7, the Recovery Response Team will work with Protective Services to monitor the hospital campus and surrounding area, engaging with people in need of recovery-oriented services and responding to drug overdoses.

“This is really important: we’re going to go out and help the people,” said Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Rick Wilson at the legislature Wednesday afternoon. “I’ve seen this with my own eyes. There’s a lot of people out there that need a lot of help.”

The announcement comes two months after Recovery Alberta issued a warning about a rise in carfentanil overdoses in Edmonton where the city saw a nearly 40 per cent increase in opioid-related calls to EMS.

Supervised consumption services are still available at the George Spady Centre and Radius Community Health and Health Centre.

A supervised consumption site provides a place where people who use pre-obtained drugs are monitored in a hygienic environment to reduce harm from substance use while also receiving additional supports.

Some of these supports include medical interventions in the event of overdose, sterile injection supplies and disposal equipment, drug poisoning prevention education and response training, harm reduction education and connection to recovery-oriented services like substance use treatment, mental health care and housing.

Friends of Medicare, a non-profit, non-partisan public health advocacy group, called the closure of the RAH site “another blow to evidence-based addictions care.”

“This government’s ideological opposition to evidence-based, life-saving care interventions will put Albertans at unnecessary risk of avoidable drug poisoning, and put our health care systems under even more strain,” said Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare.

With the site closing at the RAH, there are now just five locations offering supervised consumption services in the province: Edmonton has two sites while Calgary, Grande Prairie and Lethbridge each have one.