Swan River mayor questions harm-reduction effort

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The mayor of a western Manitoba town, where drug-related HIV diagnoses have spiked after half a million needles were distributed last year, says the province needs to take a hard look at whether harm reduction efforts are working.

“The direction that they’re going in right now is not a very successful direction,” Swan River Mayor Lance Jacobson said Wednesday.

The Swan Valley area has the majority of 41 HIV diagnoses reported throughout the Prairie Mountain Health region in 2024. That’s an increase from 19 in 2023 and six in 2022.

The increase would be higher if clean needles hadn’t been handed out to drug users, said Dr. Jazz Atwal, Manitoba’s deputy chief provincial public health officer.

“Our numbers have been increasing,” he said of Manitoba HIV infections. “From 2020 to now, the numbers have gone up almost threefold.”

In 2020, there were 119 new cases of HIV in Manitoba. In 2022, it increased to 199. In 2023, there were 280.

The doctor called that a concerning trend, noting preliminary estimates show 266 new HIV cases in 2024, which were driven by intravenous drug use and heterosexual contact.

“I think it’s fair to if say if needles or harm reduction tools weren’t provided, things would be worse,” he said.

“A harm reduction approach provides clean needles to individuals to inject safely. There’s evidence that we have in different jurisdictions that harm reduction approaches help reduce the spread of infectious disease, sexually transmitted infections or blood-borne infections.”

Jacobson said the drug addiction crisis has affected communities throughout Manitoba, but Swan River, a town of 4,000, has been “under the microscope” since municipal leaders questioned the distribution of free syringes and noted the increase in drug-related crime.

“This has been talked about for well over a year, about distributing needles and all that kind of stuff and allowing people to continue to use illegal drugs, and so forth, and where is it getting us?” the mayor asked.

“Is this saving us money in health-care costs? No, it’s not. Is this saving money for the distribution of needles and all that? No, that’s costing us money. There’s staff there — people that do all this stuff every single day.”

Late last year, the province provided health regions with $30,000 for needle cleanup and nearly $265,000 for a new pilot program with the RCMP in Swan River to to crack down on drug trafficking and other serious crimes.

Atwal said harm reduction provides an opening for people to get treatment for their addiction.

“It allows a compassionate, de-stigmatized approach to interactions with the health system, not only for STI testing, but for treatment as well,” he said.

In addition, health providers can help clients with mental health supports.

The reportable HIV infections are tracked through contact tracing, he said.

“This isn’t the entire population that is at risk. This is those who use intravenous drugs. That’s basically what were seeing with this outbreak. That is that common thread. We are already working with those individuals on the ground,” said Atwal.

Progressive Conservative health critic Kathleen Cook said the provincial government is mishandling the addictions crisis.

“This outbreak highlights the NDP’s misguided priorities on addictions,” Cook said in an email Wednesday.

“To prevent outbreaks like this in the first place, the government must expand access to addictions recovery programs, ensure proper follow-up and treatment for individuals living with HIV, and provide direct support to affected communities,” the MLA for Roblin said. “Without action, this crisis will only get worse.”

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca