Blame game pointless in meth battle By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Dec. 12, 2018

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This article was published 12/12/2018 (2794 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

There comes a time — or, perhaps, an issue — in the life of every government when it no longer has the luxury of blaming its challenges, woes and inadequacies on the government that preceded it.

For Premier Brian Pallister, the time has arrived, and the issue is the escalating crisis surrounding crystal methamphetamine abuse and addiction. And as this week’s revelations regarding an alarming increase in blood-borne diseases related to needle sharing by drug users illustrate, it is the Pallister government that must take ownership of what health officials have described as a “lack of provincial leadership.”

The NDP released documents which reveal a marked increase in the incidence of diseases– most notably hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis — that are almost exclusively linked to injection drug use

On Tuesday, the New Democrats released documents, obtained under freedom-of-information laws, which reveal a marked increase in the incidence of diseases — most notably hepatitis B, hepatitis C and syphilis — that are almost exclusively linked to injection drug use. According to one briefing note from the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority (WRHA), the current syphilis outbreak is “the highest number ever recorded” in this health region.

NDP Leader Wab Kinew noted that the blood-disease revelation signals a troublesome shift in a problem that seems to intensify with each passing day. “These documents show that the meth crisis in Winnipeg is now becoming a public health crisis,” he said, adding that the spread of blood-borne diseases is in indicator that the issue is no longer confined to drug users and has begun to spread into the broader population.

Health Minister Cameron Friesen disputed the relevance of some of the documents, calling the WRHA briefing note a “historical document” and insisting that much has changed since some of the documents released by the NDP were produced.

Three things are evident in the aftermath of the NDP’s dissemination of damning documents:

First: that while the Pallister government is taking action to address the meth crisis — as evidenced by its participation last week in a federal/provincial announcement that an additional $8.4 million will be dedicated to fighting meth addiction — those actions seem woefully inadequate given the magnitude of the problem.

Second: that while the provincial PCs cannot blame the meth crisis on their NDP predecessors, they are also not to blame for the meth epidemic. This is a scourge that defies political boundaries, and any hope of addressing it will require a multi-layered, multidisciplinary approach that crosses party lines and transcends levels of governance, and is willing to give serious consideration to any reasonable idea that might contribute to efforts to slow meth’s advance.

The NDP’s document dive is useful because it keeps the meth issue front and centre at a time when Mr. Pallister seems at times inclined to direct his energies toward less-urgent issues

Third: that the NDP would be wise not to consider this issue an opportunity to score political points — the meth crisis was going to arrive when it did, in this community and others, regardless of the inclination of the government of the day. It’s only because of the much-deserved trouncing it received in the last provincial election that the NDP finds itself pointing out the PCs’ meth-related failings rather than pondering its own inability to rein in the rampaging crisis.

The NDP’s document dive is useful because it keeps the meth issue front and centre at a time when Mr. Pallister seems at times inclined to direct his energies toward less-urgent issues — interprovincial trade barriers, deficit reduction and the ongoing pursuit of a PST reduction, anyone? — that offer greater chances of a political-points victory.

Whether he likes it or not, however, his government’s handling of this issue will largely determine his political legacy. There’s no margin for a continuing lack of provincial leadership. Mr. Pallister needs to focus on the defining issue of his career: meth.