Red Deer's overdose prevention site will once again be open 24-hour a day, at least for now.
On Jan. 2, operational hours at the overdose prevention site (OPS) were reduced by half, to 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.
The province still has plans to shutter the service at the end of March, but in the meantime, an interim injunction to maintain Red Deer's overdose prevention site as a 24-hour-a-day service was approved by Justice G.D. Marriott in Court of King's Bench on Monday.
As part of her decision, Marriott said there was sufficient evidence of physical and psychological suffering from reduced hours.
The OPS was to return to 24-hour operation within 72 hours.
A statement from Mental Health and Addictions Minister Dan Williams said the Government of Alberta will appeal the decision.
"Courts should be reluctant to impose public policy and programming decisions on elected governments. Decisions relating to how tax-payer dollars should or should not be spent are supposed to be left in the hands of leaders who were elected with a democratic mandate and accountability to those they govern," Williams said.
Efforts to get the OPS back to operating 24 hours a day were heard in Red Deer Court of King's Bench on Friday. Lawyer Avnish Nanda argued on behalf of Aaron Brown, a Red Deer OPS client with opioid use disorder who said he consistently accessed the OPS after 7 p.m. and the risk of an overdose death or other harms would greatly increase without the medical supervision the OPS provided.
"I cannot stop using," said Brown in an affidavit filed Dec. 13.
He said he has to consume drugs when his cravings start because the withdrawal symptoms are too strong, and was not at a point in his life where he could access other treatment.
"The Red Deer OPS will ensure that I can continue to live to access other forms of treatment to address my opioid use disorder," Brown said.
On Friday, his lawyer Nanda told the court that Brown was one of many using the OPS multiple times a day and reduced access to the OPS would have "profound impact on individuals and community at large."
Nanda also filed legal action in November 2024 against the permanent closure of the OPS, arguing it would violate Brown's charter rights. At that time, it was not known that the operational hours would be reduced, so an interim injunction was sought.
The bid to prevent the OPS from closing returns to court on March 14, when an interlocutory injunction will be heard to determine whether the OPS can continue to operate as it has until a decision on the case, which returns to court on June 26, is made.
Since October 2018, the Red Deer OPS has been operating at a temporary site in an ATCO trailer in the parking lot next to the Safe Harbour detox building.
Williams said prior to Monday's court decision, the province brought in new services that are part of a comprehensive plan to replace the OPS focused on health, wellness, and recovery as was requested by city council last year.
Those services included recovery coaches, a mobile rapid access addiction medicine clinic, increased detox capacity, and dynamic overdose response teams.
"This decision by the courts will delay Red Deer’s access to these services as a part of our Alberta Recovery Model. I look forward to the court fully considering the merits of our case at trial," Williams said.
