“Recently, activist organizations sued the government to prevent Alberta from becoming the first jurisdiction in Canada to implement quality standards for supervised consumption services.
“On Jan. 10, Alberta’s government learned that an injunction application filed against the regulation was dismissed by the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta. The organizations brought this matter forward for an urgent appeal through Alberta’s Court of Appeal; Alberta’s government supported the urgent appeal. On Jan. 31, Alberta’s government was notified that the appeal was also dismissed by the Appeal Court.
“The same groups that have long advocated that supervised consumption services should be part of a public health response to addiction are now arguing in court ‘that the mandate of supervised consumption sites is merely to provide a safe place to use drugs.’ Alberta’s government disagrees with these groups. We view supervised consumption sites as a portal through which other more proactive services can be provided. As is standard practice for health-care services, moving forward, operators will be required to ask clients for their Personal Health Number upon their first visit. No client will be refused services if they refuse to provide their Personal Health Number.
“Every Albertan with addiction who accesses the health-care system should have the opportunity to pursue recovery and improve their lives. These quality standards were introduced to ensure that clients are better connected to the health-care system, to improve the quality of services that are being offered to people with addiction, and to improve community safety in the areas surrounding supervised consumption sites.
“That is exactly what these quality standards will do and why they are essential to safe and orderly provision of high-quality supervised consumption services as part of a recovery-oriented system of care.
“These services must be provided in a manner that is fair to the community, assertive in dealing with the illness of addiction and compassionate to the person who is struggling. Most importantly, recovery must always be recognized as an achievable goal and clients should be assertively encouraged to pursue it.”