Council asks minister to close overdose unit
By Lethbridge Herald on December 16, 2025.
Alexandra Noad
Lethbridge Herald
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
City council has decided Lethbridge is in a position to close the local Temporary Overdose Prevention Unit (OPS) and has sent a letter to the provincial government in hopes of keeping the funding currently being used to operate the facility to put towards other programs.
City council passed a motion to send the letter, with a vote of 7-2, at its Dec. 2 meeting.
Mayor Blaine Hyggen emphasizes that the decision to close the OPS isn’t a municipal decision, but a provincial one.
“A decision to remove the OPS is not a decision of council; it’s not a decision we can make that is a provincial responsibility.”
He adds that since 2023 there has been an 89.7 per cent decrease in substance abuse-related deaths, and none of the deaths in 2025 have been in public spaces.
In addition to the decline of substance abuse-related deaths, EMS opioid related events have declined by 80 per cent since 2023.
The OPS has also seen a decline of visits of 91 per cent in the last year.
Hyggen says he believes the reason for the decline in usage is thanks to other programs such as the City’s encampment strategy.
“We got here because of some of the strategies that council put in place and some of those strategies were our encampment strategy, connecting outreach workers to those that are struggling on the streets and that’s an extremely important part.”
The OPS costs more than $3.8 million annually to run and the letter was asking the minister to have the opportunity to reallocate those dollars into a federal program, which the City will be losing funding for in the upcoming year.
“We have a federal program that we’re losing funding on and it’s helping those that are in school to keep them out of this type of a lifestyle and so, if we can take some of those dollars and continue that program, there’s about 20 at-risk youth that are in this program right now.”
Councillor Al Beeber, who voted against this motion along with Counc. Belinda Crowson, says he did so due to lack of information on how this will impact those currently on the streets.
“This is a complicated thing and for me, as a person who’s representing a community of 110,000, I wanted to make sure I did due diligence, had all the answers before me, but I didn’t have the answers so I don’t want to make a decision that could have a negative impact.”
Beeber adds he had concerns how those on the streets would get supports, since 30 per cent of those using the OPS use it to access reports, along with their clean needle program, which affects the city as a whole.
Despite voting against the motion, he says he fully supports the rest of council’s decision to send the letter to Minister Richard Wilson of Mental Health and Addictions.
“I’m going to trust my colleagues on this thing; they obviously felt this was the right thing to do and these are intelligent people, they do their research, they know what they’re doing (and) their hearts are in the right place.”
Wilson says he looks forward to helping the city move forward with more of a recovery focused mindset.
“We’re really focused on recovery and I think enabling somebody to stay in a situation like that is a tough thing to do, so if we can help people get into that recovery mode and give them hope and get them out of that cycle of despair, I think that’s what we want to focus on.”
Due to the closure being outside of the control of city council, public consultation was not required.
21-20
I wasn’t aware the province was still paying for the operation of this OPS trailer at the shelter and believed the Blood Tribe Health Department took over the operation when it took control of the shelter . . . which they have done a great job I would note!
I agree 100% with the Council’s decision to close this site if it is costing $3.8 million per year, and wonder where that $3.8 million was spent. Whenever in the area I no longer see the line-ups outside or people hanging around it as I saw a few years ago . . . and I question the academic who opposed the closure with the stats she released . . . the SCS had misrepresented numbers of users, and once the AB government took over before it was closed, those numbers were corrected and they were far fewer than reported and that number showed that Lethbridge didn’t have the busiest consumption site in the world, as some media reported and which gave our city a bad name internationally . . . but they didn’t care!
I agree that money is better spent on youth programs to prevent them from becoming a statistic on our streets, a life that many would not allow a dog or other animal to endure and scream inhumane for a society to allow an animal to experience. By allowing these issues on our streets to continue is inhumane, if you saw the lifestyle in its fullest! The prostitutes rarely get to shower or bath in a facility and are often beaten, while those who oversee them steal their money, while the organized criminals who drive around all night making sure they are selling their services, also take a percentage for what they make, leaving very little left for the prostitute who then spends it on drugs. Sleeping rough in Galt Gardens or around businesses, oftent exposed to the elements and losing toes, fingers or other body parts to frigid winter conditions, not because the shelter is full . . . but because the people who are with them, the gangs will not stay in a shelter because they cannot conduct their criminal activties when they stay in a shelter . . . breeding a lawless group who has zero respect for anything or anyone, even stealing amongst themselves, especially if some is overdosing, the first thing they do is go through their pockets and take drugs and money, then they check their backpack . . . and rarely did I observe them call 911!
Treatment recovery programs are the best way to save lives and Alberta has proven it in just a few years, with many of their programs not fully implemented, we have witnessed dramatic reduction of fatal overdoses . . . proving they are on the right track as they move away from consumption sites and harm reduction!
This decision is the right one! There are other non-profits who hand out needles, other drug paraphernalia and Naloxone kits on the streets daily, most who use, only go to the sites to get drug paraphernalia. Other organizations provide Naloxone kits . . . several!
Thank you City Council for using common sense!