‘We are in a real crisis’: soaring OD numbers, drug poisonings show urgent need for more supports, community agencies say

New provincial numbers show 570 Manitobans suffered suspected drug-related deaths last year, a grim tally in a province where debate over a promised supervised consumption site continues as the crisis deepens.

The figures, updated this month, account for 40 previously unreported deaths in December. The province also retroactively updated numbers from the previous year — raising the count from 445 to 568 fatalities.

The 2024 total is the highest number ever recorded in the province.

“It says that we are in a real crisis, that there is a critical need for more resources and supports,” Melissa Chung-Mowat, executive director of the North Point Douglas Women’s Centre, told the Free Press.

“When we have toxic drug supply, that means that people die before they can even access resources. These are folks in our community, these are our neighbours, they are people that really need the most supports.”

Overdoses are a near-daily occurrence in the inner-city neighbourhood, where Chung-Mowat said seven people suffered drug poisonings within the span of a few hours Monday, prompting community organizations to issue a drug alert.

The notice warned of a drug with “chunky white-ish granules” that caused users to experience seizures and lose consciousness before they were revived with the opioid overdose-reversing drug naloxone.

Chung-Mowat said her staff are often forced to intervene in drug poisonings by administering naloxone, performing CPR and calling emergency responders.

She said witnessing an overdose can have traumatic effects.

“It has a big impact on our community and it’s really hard to see folks struggle, to see folks harmed, to see people pass away,” she said. “It draws a lot of resources away from the core resources we provide.”

Without a sanctioned consumption space, community organizations are left to shoulder the burden, said Jenny Henkelman, communications co-ordinator for Sunshine House.

The provincial government is considering a building at 200 Disraeli Fwy., just east of Main Street, as a potential supervised consumption site. If completed, it would fulfil an NDP campaign pledge and become the first of its kind in Manitoba.

The plan has been met with pushback from some area residents who expressed fears it could escalate crime. The Free Press reached out to the Point Douglas Residents Committee to discuss the concerns, but did not hear back Tuesday.

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In an email statement, the province reiterated its commitment to opening a supervised consumption site and said work is ongoing.

“Any death from a drug poisoning is a tragedy and one too many in Manitoba,” wrote Education Minister Tracy Schmidt on behalf of Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith, who was not available.

“I want to express my deep sympathy and condolences to the friends and family who have lost a loved one. We know a harm-reduction approach saves lives.”

Henkelman declined to comment on the safety concerns raised by some area residents with respect to the proposed supervised consumption site location.

“I’m not going to speak directly to the situation with the potential site because we are not involved with that,” she said.

Henkelman referenced research, including a 2022 report prepared by the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network, that supports the implementation of consumption sites and disputes suggestions they lead to increased crime.

The 101-page document also references the need for timely and thorough overdose reporting from provincial officials.

Manitoba has drawn criticism for falling short in that regard. While the province posts monthly preliminary overdose death data online, the figures are typically several months out of date.

In January, the province adjusted figures dating back to 2022 and 2023.

The total number of deaths from 2023 increased by 123, including 21 deaths in July of that year.

The death tolls for some months were shuffled in 2022, but the net total did not rise from the previously reported number of 467.

The Free Press has reached out to the province to clarify why the numbers have changed.

A ministerial spokesperson noted the numbers can be retroactively adjusted, pending the results of toxicology reports and other examinations.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca

Tyler Searle
Reporter

Tyler Searle is a multimedia producer who writes for the Free Press’s city desk. A graduate of Red River College Polytechnic’s creative communications program, he wrote for the Stonewall Teulon Tribune, Selkirk Record and Express Weekly News before joining the paper in 2022. Read more about Tyler.

Every piece of reporting Tyler produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.