Calgary supervised consumption site closes Tuesday

Calgary's only supervised consumption site will permanently close its doors Tuesday, June 30, leaving questions about what comes next for clients and the neighborhoods it has served.

The Alberta government set the closure date earlier this year as part of a broader shift away from harm reduction toward recovery-oriented addiction services. The site at the Sheldon M. Chumir Health Centre in the Beltline has operated since 2017, offering a hygienic space for people to use pre-obtained drugs under staff supervision while providing immediate overdose response, education, peer support, and connections to treatment services.

The province is replacing the service with a rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinic in the same location, offering same-day addiction counselling and case management. Alberta also announced a 24/7 rapid response team near the Chumir, staffed with paramedics, nurses, and peer support workers to respond to overdoses and connect people to healthcare.

But the fire department's data suggests the closures may strain emergency services. Firefighters responded to over 60 percent more substance-related calls in 2025 compared to 2024. In the first five months of 2026 alone, a 283 percent increase in substance-related calls occurred — largely driven by accidental overdoses and poisoning involving unconscious patients.

Cecilia Fraser, lead outreach coordinator with Street Cats YYC, a harm reduction advocacy group, said the organization expects to respond to a higher number of overdoses after the site closes. After similar closures in Red Deer and Edmonton in recent years, those cities' fire departments reported spikes in opioid-related emergency calls.