Calgary supervised drug consumption site to close on June 30

The government of Alberta is shutting down the province’s first-ever supervised drug consumption site at the end of June.

Alberta’s minister of mental health and addiction, Rick Wilson, confirmed the previously announced closing of the site in Calgary during an unrelated press conference on Thursday.

“What we’re going to be doing is we’re going to be putting teams right on the street, so I forget the actual name of it, but there’ll be teams out on the streets. They’ll be walking 24-7 out there. If somebody needs help, they’ll be able to get them the help that they need,” said Wilson.

The Calgary site, located in the Sheldon Chumir Centre in the Beltline, opened in 2017 in response to the ongoing opioid and overdose crisis.

However, it has also become very contentious, with area residents and businesses complaining it contributed to an increase in social disorder and crime in the area.

1:55
Beltline residents raise ‘social disorder’ concerns around Calgary supervised consumption site

Critics have assailed the government’s plan to close the site, saying it will move the problem of overdoses and drug consumption into the open, onto the city’s streets, and will cost lives.

2:00
People in recovery clean Beltline, raise concerns over soon-to-be-closed Calgary consumption site

Reacting to confirmation of the closure, Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas told Global Calgary during a Friday morning interview that it is a provincial decision because the city does not have jurisdiction over health care.

“However, public safety as well as the coordination of our police services, as well as some of our social agencies — that’s where we’re involved,” said Farkas.

“So at this point, (we are) still really advocating for increased resources. We want to make sure that there’s a net gain in terms of availability for those recovery beds so that we can best serve those vulnerable Calgarians, but also address some of the crime and public safety needs that Calgarians have identified particularly close to that site.”

Get weekly health news

Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.

Asked about what plans the province has to provide help for people struggling with addiction, the minister said, “We work close with Alpha House and Mustard Seed and all the groups that, if somebody does need help, we’ll get them to help that the need.

“And that’s the whole point of the whole thing, is not enabling people to keep living in a pit of despair — it is to actually get them the help that they need because there is help out there.”

Wilson said there “may be a little bit of pushback at first,” but claims “there’s so many things that are happening to help people that are in trouble.

“Probably within the next month we’re going be opening up another recovery unit by Tsuut’ina, right on the First Nation — that’s going to be a 75-bed recovery unit. That’s an extra 75 beds that we’ll have in place,” Wilson added. “We’ve got the Calgary recovery community right downtown that’s doing great work. I opened up a recovery community at Kainai on the Blackfoot First Nation just maybe a month ago.

“We’re going to be (opening) another one at Siksika, probably within the next week or so. So there’s so many recovery beds coming online that we’re going be able to help people and get them the help that they need.”

1:38
Supervised consumption site at Sheldon Chumir centre to close, services being relocated

The Calgary site has been a political football for years.

Former premier Jason Kenney tried to close it in 2022, but didn’t follow through.

In 2025, Premier Danielle Smith got into a spat with former Calgary mayor Jyoti Gondek about its future before Smith announced it would be closing the site and replacing it with a treatment program.

The provincial government has already shut down a supervised consumption site in Red Deer, one of three sites in Edmonton and has announced the closure of the sole supervised consumption site in Lethbridge at the end of June — leaving two remaining sites in Edmonton and a site in Grand Prairie as the only such facilities in Alberta.

2:04
Calgary city committee looks at crime near drug consumption site: ‘It’s scary’

&copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.