"Get rid of the safe consumption sites and just put those druggies in rehab."
This sentiment can be found across Canada, mainly among people looking for easy answers and who have little understanding of addiction. It's been on my mind a lot lately, ever since the January 22nd memorial service held for 223 community members who died in the heart of Edmonton between March and December of 2025.
223 vulnerable people.
I took my guitar and sang a song for those 223 people, and by the time I sang the last note, my whole body was shaking from the sorrow and injustice of so many needless deaths.
223 sisters and brothers who died of causes related to homelessness in a wealthy province.
People who struggled just to live with trauma in a society that would rather pretend homelessness doesn't exist. People without homes, found dead on a park bench, in a stairwell, in a public washroom, on a sidewalk.
Many (but not all) of them killed by addiction to drugs laced with fentanyl or other poisons.
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| A better sentiment - a two meter sign like this hung in our worship space for a time |
Some of our community members use marijuana, thinking it's the most harmless substance they can have to feel happy or peaceful in spite of their homelessness, trauma, and other struggles. Unfortunately, if they buy it on the street, they don't know what else might be mixed into their dope.
Safe consumption sites, if we had more of them, would reduce the death toll that is on the rise among drug users in general. For one thing, using drugs in a SCS means that people are being monitored so that if they need medical help for a drug poisoning, they get it immediately. For another, such places are often the first opportunity for people to get help. They mean a person has second, third, fourth... well, as many chances as needed to break substance addiction. It's rarely one-and-done. It takes time.
The best time to encourage someone to get rid of any addiction is when they are hitting bottom, when they recognize that they can't stand it anymore and that it might kill them if they don't kick it. SCSs are places where health and community workers can offer people with addictions the opportunity to turn their life around.
Through the use of methadone, suboxone, and other drugs that substitute for addictive substances and that can be reduced gradually, users can get a taste of life without addiction and seriously consider getting into rehab and supportive programs that help them stay sober. SCS counsellors can also connect people to other helpful resources to improve their life situations.
Unfortunately, it seems the average Joe/Jane doesn't know this, and there are many who think that shoving people into mandatory detox programs is the best plan, but nothing could be further from the truth. A person needs to be ready, to actually want to change their life, or their chances of rehabilitation are pretty much nil.
Too many people pushed into detox before they are ready -- sometimes by well-meaning friends and family -- fall back into their old ways, and often end up dead of drug poisoning because they return to their addiction mistakenly thinking they need the same dosage they were on before rehab.
Better to keep people with addictions alive and safe until they are able to freely choose the road to wellness and get the wrap-around supports they need. Better to have Safe Consumption Sites.
I don't know how many of the 223 people we honoured on January 22nd were victims of addictions. Our government has stopped keeping stats, I suspect because they don't want the public to know the truth of this crisis, and they like the idea of forcing people into detox.
So I wear my naloxone kit, as do many others in the heart of Edmonton, and continue to speak out about the need for Safe Consumption Sites, housing, and other forms of care for the vulnerable among us. And maybe I'll write yet another letter...
Thanks for reading.
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