Landmark evidence shows closing Alberta Overdose Prevention Site led to no increase in overdose deaths and an increase in life-saving treatment 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 10, 2026

Calgary, Alberta—Today, Addiction, the globally leading scientific journal, published CORE’s landmark findings on how the closure of an Overdose Prevention Site in Red Deer, Alberta did not result in increased deaths, emergency department visits, or EMS (ambulance) calls for site users and after the site closed, more site users sought life-saving treatment.

“This study is the first of its kind. Alberta is the only jurisdiction that treats overdose prevention like other health services by regulating sites and requiring sites to collect a health care number or health care identifiers. Much of the scientific publications to date supporting overdose prevention sites use population level data, or voluntary data from people who are motivated to be part of a study. Our research, using all identified site users, and comparing them to the users of a site that did not close, shows that closing the site had little to no impact on health care utilization. However, the study showed that site users were more likely to access treatments for opioid use disorder after the site closed,” says Dr. Nathaniel Day, CORE’s Chief Scientific Officer.

The study included two provincially regulated OPS programs in Alberta, Canada—Red Deer and Lethbridge. The Red Deer OPS closure was publicly announced on September 24, 2024, and implemented on March 31, 2025. The Lethbridge OPS remained open throughout the study. The two cities were similar in terms of population size, median income, and other demographic trends.

To improve the quality and strength of this research, CORE looked not only at the outcomes for Red Deer clients but also compared them to clients using a similar program in Lethbridge. This allowed researchers to better understand if any detected changes for Red Deer were related to the closure or related to other factors given that the Lethbridge site remained open. For example, the number of people in Lethbridge taking evidence-based treatments increased slightly over time, but not nearly as much as the site users in Red Deer who had significantly increased rates of accepting treatment as the site prepared for closure and was ultimately closed.

This study is the first to look at the consequences of site closure using linked administrative health care data. Early results indicate that the site closure did not result in an increase in mortality or acute health care services for site users. However, the closure was associated with a statistically significant increase in the number of people accessing treatment. Stable EMS and Emergency Department use of addiction related visits is reassuring for the overall health system. CORE continues to study this issue and explore longer term outcomes for site users.

This retrospective cohort study used Provincial Health Number (PHN) data from June 30, 2024, to September 27, 2025 — six months after the Red Deer OPS closure. Overall, it included all identified site users with 381 Red Deer OPS clients and 300 Lethbridge OPS clients.

“Overdose Prevention Sites are commonly classified as health care interventions; however, they are often not subject to the same standards as other health care services across Canada. Alberta has regulated these sites at the provincial level requiring them to function as part of a system of care. These regulations are what allowed us to undertake this study. We were able to collect individual health care data to compare the outcomes for the two groups in a real-world setting,” says Kym Kaufmann, CEO, CORE.

People who use OPS often live with severe addiction and significant social and economic vulnerability. For them, their families, and the public, it matters that publicly funded services measurably improve outcomes and support pathways to recovery.

“This study will help inform addiction and mental health policy across Canada and the world. We’ve had significant interest from other researchers and health care programs globally who want to examine how these findings can help shape their future programs and policy decisions,” she added.

The complete article can be found in Addiction.

About CoRE 

In 2024, the Alberta government launched two organizations dedicated to supporting mental health and addiction – CORE and Recovery Alberta.

Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence (CORE) is committed to transforming how recovery is understood and achieved in Canada and around the world. The Centre’s mission is to empower decision making with the best available information to support recovery for those with mental illness or addiction.

Media Contact: 

Kevin Duncan

Communications

Canadian Centre of Recovery Excellence

Phone: 403.431.2859 

Email: Kevin@shift-consulting.ca

Recoveryexcellence.org