The Yukon’s first live-in managed alcohol program launched in Whitehorse on Nov. 6 to support Yukoners with severe and treatment-resistant alcohol use disorder, albeit after the deadline committed to in the confidence-and-supply agreement between the governing Liberals and the Yukon NDP.
The deal, signed on Jan. 31, 2023, committed to establishing a managed alcohol program within a year.
The now-open managed alcohol program can house up to 10 individuals struggling with severe alcohol use disorder out of the former St. Elias Adult Group Home on Hoge Street in downtown Whitehorse.
While Yukon NDP Leader Kate White is quoted in the Yukon government press announcement issued Nov. 14 about the program launch saying how proud her MLAs are to see their confidence-and-supply deal commitment on harm reduction put into action, she's already pushing for an expansion.
White said the new program will offer “long-overdue support” to Yukoners struggling with alcohol use. She wants to see the program expanded to offer a “drop-in, low-barrier" managed alcohol option in the territory.
By phone on Nov. 14, White told the News the current program is “an incredible first step.”
“But a drop-in program is going to be the next step, because not everybody is going to qualify or be interested in in a residential program,” she said.
White pointed to the Vancouver Drinker’s Lounge and Boyle Street Edmonton as examples of existing programs across the country.
The Drinker’s Lounge is described on its website as a drop-in space run by the community (as opposed to the government, White noted). It offers alcohol substitution with beer and wine brewed by lounge members. White explained that clients there are given enough alcohol to avoid withdrawal.
Health and Social Services Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee is quoted in the press release acknowledging the “person-centred, evidence-based care” the Yukon's new managed alcohol program will provide.
“This initiative not only addresses the immediate health and safety needs of individuals but also fosters social stability and helps reduce the strain on our health care and justice systems,” McPhee said.
“By providing structured support and medically supervised alcohol management, we are offering a dignified path forward for some of our most vulnerable community members.”
The first program intake was set for this spring but never materialized. In September, the Yukon’s director of substance use had anticipated intake beginning in October, but that depended on getting the already-delayed human resources and administrative parts in place.
A managed alcohol program is a component of the territory’s substance use health emergency plan released in August 2023. The territory declared a Yukon-wide emergency in January 2022.
As previously reported by the News, the Yukon’s program will deliver medically prescribed doses of alcohol in beverage form at regular intervals to up to 10 live-in clients, under supervision. There’s no maximum length of stay. Indicators of success, which were still being determined, include reduced contact with RCMP, less arrests, fewer drop-offs at the hospital and the arrest processing unit at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, and a lower number of admissions to detox.
The program involves tailored plans as well as health care and social services for clients, according to the press release.
First Nations governments, health-care providers and community partners contributed to the development of the program to help make it “culturally appropriate and effective” when it comes to care, as noted in the release.
The model is based on existing managed alcohol programs in other jurisdictions in Canada that have shown “reductions in non-beverage alcohol use, public intoxication, emergency room visits, alcohol-related harms and law enforcement interactions,” per the release.
The 2024-25 budget contains $1.3 million to run the program.
The release notes the program is intended to assist people with “chronic alcohol dependency who face barriers to participating in abstinence-based programs, providing them with a stable living environment and reducing the risk of alcohol-related harms” — particularly those who don’t have homes.
The facility will be staffed around the clock by nurses, support workers, social workers and medical oversight provided by the Referred Care Clinic’s addiction medicine team.
According to the release, the program encourages clients’ autonomy when it comes to making meals and doing other basic household responsibilities.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
