Opinion: Recovery, not consumption: Alberta’s path forward

For years, Calgarians have expressed frustration and alarm about the worsening effects on families and businesses in the community surrounding the drug consumption site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre. They are also appalled by the ongoing misery of the centre’s clients who come to consume drugs, and the dealers who prey on them.

Advocates for drug consumption sites may have good intentions. We see someone suffering and we all want to help. But without treatment and recovery, their lives are not improving — and there is little evidence that these sites reduce mortality rates or emergency service use for the people who use them.

It is time for a new approach. We cannot continue to perpetuate addiction. These sites were designed as short-term measures — not meant to be permanent. They are also a drain on valuable resources that could be used elsewhere to support actual recovery. For this fiscal year, almost $16 million was allocated to drug consumption services, including to cover the more than $2 million a year it costs to run the recently closed Royal Alexandra Hospital drug consumption site, which only saw an average of about 22 people a month.

In 2026, we are moving forward on closing Calgary’s drug consumption site and, in partnership with municipal partners and agencies, ensuring appropriate treatment supports are in place — similar to our approach with the sites in Red Deer and at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in Edmonton.

Why now, after all these years? The answer is that the Alberta Recovery Model, which we have been building over the past six years, offers an array of effective addiction treatments and services that never existed before. This comprehensive, recovery-focused approach provides medication options and prioritizes long-term wellness.

It includes treatment on demand through the Virtual Opioid Dependency Program (VODP), which provides same-day access to addiction medicine treatment and ongoing case management. Since its inception, VODP has helped more than 17,000 unique individuals across Alberta, connecting them to care when they need it most. We also offer the Digital Overdose Response System — a free, confidential mobile app that connects people who use substances alone to emergency help.

Established in mid-2024, the Calgary Navigation Centre offers a streamlined pathway to recovery and stability. The facility provides medical triage, housing support and addiction treatment that advocates often link to supervised consumption models, while focusing entirely on recovery rather than active drug use.

Last summer, we opened the Calgary Recovery Community, which can help up to 300 individuals each year with comprehensive supports on their recovery journey. This is the fourth recovery community to open in Alberta, with seven more to open across the province by 2027.

These are just some of the life-saving recovery-oriented supports now available in Calgary and across Alberta. Since 2023, Alberta has had a 39 per cent reduction in overdose mortality, thanks in part to our significant investments to support treatment and recovery.

In fact, so far in 2025, drug-related deaths in Calgary are below 2016 levels (16.1 versus 17.5 per 100,000 population) and well below the high-water mark set in 2023 (46.2 per 100,000) — a clear sign that recovery-focused care is working. These positive trends show we are on the right track — the path to recovery — and we must not leave people to suffer in perpetual addiction.

This is not what families, communities or even people experiencing addiction want.

Drug consumption sites do not break the cycle of addiction, they prolong it. Real change comes from recovery-oriented care — treatment that helps people reclaim their lives, rebuild relationships, and restore hope.

That is why Alberta’s government is investing in the Alberta Recovery Model — a comprehensive, evidence-based approach focused on long-term healing and community safety.

The goal isn’t just to keep people alive for another day; it’s to help them live well for a lifetime.

Rick Wilson is the minister of Mental Health and Addiction.