Lawsuit filed over Alberta’s supervised consumption site rules

CALGARY – A lawsuit has been filed against the Alberta government alleging its rules governing supervised drug-use sites will have life and death impacts.

Leading the charge are non-profit societies Moms Stop The Harm and the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Society.

They allege the province is increasing barriers to the life-saving service and breaching the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

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“Those restrictions will cause people to use supervised consumption services less, it will make it harder to open up a supervised consumption site,” said lawyer Avnish Nanda. “From our perspective, not only does this breach the charter rights of substance users in Alberta and supervised consumption service providers, but also it undermines the federal authority around regulating supervised consumption sites.”

The statement of claim also alleges the province’s rules frustrate regulatory framework by the federal government.

The lawsuit comes after the United Conservative government launched new regulations for site operators to receive funding.

One requirement is the collection of personal health numbers from clients.

“There’s a number of privacy concerns here,” Nanda added. “So that you can be tracked, and your information can be given to other health care providers and even the police without your consent.

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“We’re hearing from substance users who access sites daily who tell me that they’re not going to come and use a supervised consumption site, and they’d rather use on their own alone and risk dying than provide personal information.”

Nanda said this is the first time a lawsuit like this has been launched in Alberta, and that it is purely the result of the provincial government fighting against harm reduction tactics.

Petra Shulz, co-founder of Moms Stop the Harm, says many people who use substances don’t want to be identified due to stigma, criminalization and impacts to their personal life.

She says the new rules also force people to disengage from supervised drug-use sites, increasing the risk of fatally overdosing.

Kym Porter is also with Moms Stop the Harm, she said her son died from a fentanyl overdose five years ago in Medicine Hat and he would have been helped if one of these sites existed at the time. Now she is worried other people will shy away from them.

“People that are using these sites are already marginalized or already stigmatized, there’s a concern about what that information is going to be used for,” she said.