Needs assessment on supervised consumption finds majority would use facility
As the conversation about supervised consumption services continued inside city council chambers Tuesday, some data has finally been released from the recent needs assessment done in our community.
The study was conducted by the Red Deer Coalition on the Opioid Crisis, which was managed by Turning Point.
A presentation Tuesday evening was the first time Turning Point had been able to share some details of its needs assessment completed October 31. Alberta Health has been hanging onto it ever since.
Among the data collected from 258 community members who use drugs, 28.7 per cent said they’d overdosed in the last six months and 57.9 per cent said they’d witnessed someone overdose. More than 86 per cent said they’d be willing to use supervised consumption services if they were offered in Red Deer. Turning Point serves about 1600 clients at this time, a number officials say is always increasing.