Red Deer overdose prevention site set to close after judge rules against extending injunction

The overdose prevention site in Red Deer will be closing at the end of the month, following a decision by a judge released Wednesday. 

Justice C.A. Rickards of Court of King's Bench denied a request by Aaron Brown, a man with opioid use disorder, to keep the OPS open beyond March 31. 

In January, a different judge granted an interim injunction to continue being open around the clock until the end of March. The government was planning to phase out the site and had already cut operating hours to 12 hours a day. Brown argued that the OPS closure would violate his Charter rights. 

The judge said in his decision that while Brown had visited the site four times between October and January, he has continued to use drugs three times a day, and said he "cannot conclude that there is a real probability that Brown will suffer unavoidable irreparable harm if OPS closes."

His lawyer Avnish Nanda has filed an appeal of the judge's ruling that will be heard on April 16.  The full hearing on the OPS closure is scheduled for June. 

"We're hopeful that on appeal a court will fully examine what is at issue here, what's being requested and rule that it's reasonable to maintain the status quo for an additional 12 weeks," Nanda said Thursday. 

"We weren't asking for an injunction for years. We were asking for an injunction for until June 26th of this year when the full hearing will be had."

The OPS has been operating in a trailer outside the Safe Harbour Society's homeless shelter in downtown Red Deer since 2018. Alberta Health Services took over operations from the non-profit group Turning Point in 2023.

Red Deer city council passed a motion in February 2024 asking the province to shut down the site after a full-day public hearing.

The majority of presenters told councillors they wanted the OPS to stay open. 

Site closing 

The Alberta government announced in September that it was cutting funding to the OPS and closing the site at the end of March. 

Drug users will instead be getting access to a team of paramedics and nurses who will be in the immediate area to reverse overdoses and a new mobile addiction medicine clinic.

Recovery coaches are working inside the Safe Harbour Shelter to help people access services. The province is also funding more detox beds. 

Mental Health and Addiction Minister Dan Williams said he isn't waiting for the outcome of Brown's appeal. 

"I will be stopping the drug consumption services in Red Deer starting next month," he said.

NDP MLA Janet Eremenko, the Opposition critic for mental health and addiction, said she was disappointed to hear the site will be closed as of April 1. 

She said the OPS can be the first step to recovery by saving users from death if they ingest poisoned drugs.

"They could have kept it open for another 15 weeks until we could actually hear the real tooth in the argument for why the OPS should stay open," Eremenko said.

"So clearly the minister made that decision a long time ago that the OPS was going to close come hell or high water."

Lawyer Nanda says Brown is disappointed by Wednesday's decision. 

"He was hopeful that his voice would be heard … and understand that for someone like him, these sites are the difference between life and death."