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Walking through the new space, Schoen highlighted the needles, cookers and other supplies laid out for clients to use with the drugs they’ve brought to the site, as well as instructions and tips on the walls focusing on safety. Clients also receive naloxone kits and training on how to use them in the case of an overdose off-site.

“We focus on prevention, not just about overdoes we’re reversing, but the education,” Schoen said. “A lot of our job too is instilling hope.”

The female client, who Postmedia agreed not to name due to her concern about being identified as an illegal drug user, said the federally exempt facilities have been the best possible response to the opioid crisis for users in the city.

She said she has injected morphine for about 15 years and was intrigued when the consumption site first opened. But she was worried she would be labelled a “junkie,” so it took her about a month before she decided to use the venue. Once she did walk through the doors, she stopped worrying about any stigma.

“You’re treated like a human being so you don’t really care,” she said on Wednesday. “It’s a safe place to come and use your drugs and know that you’re going to be OK and there’s people here that are trained medically that can help you.”

The sites at Boyle Street and the George Spady Centre are among four approved for Edmonton. The Royal Alexandra Hospital location, exclusively for hospital patients, opened in April. It’s been used by 73 people with nearly 470 visits and reversed one overdose in the first three months. Health officials said those visits included 327 uses of the consumption room, and 142 requests for harm reduction supplies and overdose response kits.