ARCHES ceases supervised consumption services in Lethbridge

The announcement by ARCHES follows a financial audit that was completed by Deloitte for the Government of Alberta earlier this year found widespread financial mismanagement within the organization, including $1.6-million in taxpayer dollars being unaccounted for.

Once the results of the audit were made public, the province pulled its funding to ARCHES, which made up a significant portion of their SCS-related funding.

While we have heard from several residents that are happy about the closure of the SCS, many have dissenting opinions.

The Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network has sent a letter to the Government of Alberta, asking them to denounce their original decision to cut funding to ARCHES and to immediately reinstate it.

“Not only does the Lethbridge SCS improve health and save lives, research shows that supervised consumption services are cost effective because they prevent HIV and hepatitis C, facilitate access to treatment services, and respond to overdoses that would otherwise involve ambulance and emergency services.”

The group believes the government is “responsible for maintaining heavily relied-upon, life-saving health services — at least until a safe and evidence-based transition plan is achieved.”

Attached to the letter is a petition that you can access here.

by David Opinko

ARCHES ceases supervised consumption services in Lethbridge

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