Red Deer's temporary overdose prevention site (rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Troy Gillard

provincial review underway

Supervised consumption saving lives and money, says report

Aug 27, 2019 | 8:03 AM

A new report is highlighting the health and financial benefits of supervised consumption sites.

The report from the Alberta Community Council on HIV says that since opening its doors in October, the temporary overdose prevention site in Red Deer has led to 437 fewer ambulance calls and significant hospital emergency department cost savings.

“SCS provides a cost effective way for people who use drugs to improve their quality of life and reduce the burden on EMS and ED,” says the report. “SCS services in Canada provide cost savings, with an estimated $5 dollars saved for every $1 spent according to recent estimates.”

(Source: A Community Based Report on Alberta’s Supervised Consumption Service Effectiveness, August 2019, prepared by the Alberta Community Council on HIV)

The Alberta Community Council on HIV is a non-profit, provincial member driven network of regionally based organizations who support community responses to HIV, sexually transmitted infections, harm reduction, education and health promotion.

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The report says that of the more than 300,000 visits to supervised consumption sites in Alberta, no one has died – 4,305 overdoses have been reversed, with a 100 per cent success rate from November 2017 to May 2018. A total of 3,709 calls have been diverted from EMS and over 10,000 referrals have been made to addiction and treatment services.

The temporary overdose prevention site in Red Deer opened on October 1, 2018 and has seen nearly 21,000 visits, an average of about 200 unique visits per month. The monthly number of visits has gone up by 400 per cent, from 600 visits in October to 3,207 visits in May.

The number of overdoses reversed in Red Deer from October through May is listed at 481.

The council’s report says evidence shows supervised consumption sites have no impact on criminal activity in communities.

“While the issue of crime is often directly linked to the SCS, crime and disorder have their own trends within cities that predate the SCS,” the report says. “A review that compiled data from 13 SCS studies from 2000 to 2018 found that the implementation of SCS sites did not increase crime and disorder around the SCS communities; and they also found no evidence for increased harm to the community with needle debris.”

Turning Point has been working towards establishing a permanent site, but those plans are currently on hold while the provincial government carries out a review into supervised consumption.

Provincial funding for future sites in Red Deer, Medicine Hat and Calgary has been frozen until the review is complete. The panel conducting the review will be hosting an open house in Red Deer on Sept. 10.

On average, about two people per day are dying in Alberta due to opioid overdose.

The full report from the Alberta Community Council on HIV can be read here.