The Canadian Nurses Association (CNA) is deeply concerned by recent decisions made by the governments of Ontario and Alberta to end provincial funding for supervised consumption services (SCS). Canada is facing a toxic drug supply and unregulated drug poisoning crisis. Each preventable death is a tragedy, and nurses and nurse practitioners across the country see the impacts of this crisis every day — in emergency departments, shelters, community services, outreach teams, supervised consumption services, and people’s homes.
CNA supports access to a full continuum of care — prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery. Treatment and recovery services are essential, but they cannot replace models of care where supervised consumption services help people who are not ready for, cannot access, or do not benefit from abstinence-based or structured treatment approaches. Supervised consumption sites have many benefits. Rapid responses during overdoses help lower the likelihood of hypoxic brain injuries. Using substances in safe environments decreases the risk of gender-based violence, while access to clean needles and inhalation equipment helps prevent the transmission of HIV and Hepatitis C. Nurses who work in SCS offer comprehensive wrap-around care, including wound care, infection prevention, screening for sexual and blood-borne infections, and mental health supports. Nurses and nurse practitioners provide lifesaving care, increasing access to comprehensive primary care while building trusting relationships; this leads to pathways for treatment. The closures of safe consumption sites are destroying the trust nurses and nurse practitioners have built with marginalized communities, creating trauma, severing relationships, and decreasing access to care. People must be able to access the right care at the right time with the right support, free of judgment, stigma or other barriers.
In 2025, supervised consumption services assisted 394,846 people and addressed 38,691 overdose incidents across the country, with no reported fatalities from overdoses within a safe consumption site (Government of Canada, 2026). The decisions made by the governments of Alberta and Ontario will put tens of thousands of lives at risk for fatal overdose, increasing health system expenditures and wait-time pressures for an already strained system. Communities will face increased exposure to drug use in public settings with an additional burden placed on families and local services. This will be costly.
Nurses and nurse practitioners are willing to work with all governments to find solutions and support everyone to live with dignity and contribute to building a healthier Canada. CNA stands with the Harm Reduction Nurses Association (HRNA) and the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO) in calling for evidence-informed decisions that put people’s health and safety first.
Harm Reduction Nurses Association Media Release: Harm Reduction Nurses Denounce Ontario Decision to End Supervised Consumption Sites | HRNA/AIIRM
Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario Action Alert: Closing supervised consumption services sites will cost lives, Premier! | RNAO.ca