Province’s failure to act more urgently on shortage of OD kits ‘shameful,’ Winnipeg MP says

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This article was published 08/06/2023 (822 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Community groups supporting people who use drugs say the impact of a supply issue cutting off access to naloxone across the province over the last month has already been felt, and are calling on the provincial and federal government to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

Shipments from the province (which provides kits to distribution sites through Manitoba Health) began to slow in mid-May. By the end of the month, some distributors were receiving only a fraction of what they had been getting. The province said it was a supply-chain issue at the time, and that kits were coming to fulfil back orders and meet future supply demands. Some organizations were forced to reach out to similar agencies in other provinces, including Ontario and B.C., to supply them with hundreds of kits when the provincial government couldn’t.

Despite the province’s assurance that it has received thousands of kits since, many groups say they still haven’t received what they need to save lives, Winnipeg Centre MP Leah Gazan said Thursday.

“We have a provincial government not doing anything (and) a federal government trying to pass the buck on the province. They have a responsibility,” the NDP member of Parliament told a Winnipeg news conference.

“How are we getting supply right now? We are literally having to beg other provinces and other organizations to ship and share naloxone from where they are. This is shameful.”

Naloxone is a medication used to reverse or reduce the effects of opioid overdose when breathing slows and eventually stops.

A provincial government spokesperson said 2,000 kits have been received and distributed since the supply-chain disruption, along with 10 per cent of a 10,000-kit order. The rest are expected to arrive next week.

“There is not a shortage of naloxone itself. There was a brief supply issue resulting in a delay on the shipping for some orders,” the spokesperson wrote in an email.

”Supply issues are expected to be resolved by end of next week and the province will continue to have supply to meet the needs of Manitobans.”

But it’s not enough for community groups who say they’ve become desperate. Stephanie Sanderson, who works with the North End Women’s Centre, said in the year she has worked with the program, she’s had to use naloxone to revive someone 10 times; eight of them in just the last two weeks.

“For me, as someone who has lived experience, it is sometimes triggering for me. I’m exhausted from the work I do, and it’s impacting my kids and my husband,” she said.

The centre had just 35 kits on hand Thursday, amplifying concerns that there simply won’t be enough to meet the demand.

Sanderson, who is currently in recovery from a substance addiction, said a significant percentage of drugs on the street are more powerful, and often contaminated with other substances. That results in some users needing multiple kits to save their lives.

Several organizations held a survey last month on how many doses were needed to revive someone, and the average was seven. The last time staff had to use naloxone to revive someone at Sunshine House’s Mobile Overdose Prevention Site — an RV where people can use drugs safely and access resources, including naloxone — it took 21 doses, or just over five naloxone kits.

The mobile overdose prevention site now sees approximately 150 visits over a five-hour span every day it’s open in the downtown area. During March and April, staff distributed 1,000 kits from the mobile facility.

Site co-ordinator Davey Cole said there hasn’t been much explanation from the province as to what caused the supply-chain issue.

“When there’s a shortage of a life-saving tool and no answers as to why there’s a shortage, what is that saying to this community, to our community?” Cole asked. “What does it say when you put health-care workers in spaces to stop overdoses, to address the drug-poisoning crisis, but you limit the access to the tools, almost saying, ‘Figure it out?’”

Some attended Thursday’s press conference to share how the impact of not having enough naloxone to go around has affected their lives. Two weeks ago, community advocate Viv Ketchum’s daughter lost her boyfriend to an overdose.

Today, she fears her daughter might not be able to get help if the same happens to her.

“I managed to scrounge up a kit for her, just last week,” Ketchum said. “Next week, I might not be able to.”

“Next week, we (might) get the news that she OD’d, because she didn’t have naloxone.”

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca