Officials with the Alberta government announced plans to open four new safe injection sites in Edmonton’s downtown core.
One of the four locations will be in Edmonton’s McCauley neighbourhood, the others will be at Boyle Street, the George Spady Centre and the Royal Alexandra Hospital – the service will be provided to inpatients.
Wednesday’s announcement was a long time coming, more than five years of discussions and research.
At the sites, drug users will be able to visit and safely inject themselves – however, people using those facilities will not be allowed to take fentanyl due to legal restrictions.
“It’s under the Substance Control Act through the federal government,” Shelley Williams with HIV Edmonton said Wednesday. “So people have to apply for a federal exemption, and it basically exempts the person who is taking the substance as well as the staff who are working with the individuals.”
Proponents of the plan said it will make communities safer and cleaner, and provide help for drug users such as counselling and medical care.
However, some residents who live near where the sites will be are frustrated by what they called a lack of consultation.
“We were told that there was only going to be one, today they’re going to be three and one really close to McCauley,” Dan Glugosh, a resident of McCauley, said. “You hear a lot about NIMBYs and stuff like that, and this is why, because inner cities aren’t working with communities.”
A researcher who has been working with the team planning the sites says this part of downtown is most in need of safe injection sites, and facilities will have staggered hours so there will be some space for users around the clock.
The effort will cost the province $230,000. It is expected the four facilities will start offering safe injections in about a year.
With files from Shanelle Kaul
