Addictions crisis needs more than good intentions By: Editorial Posted: 7:00 PM CST Tuesday, Feb. 7, 2023

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/02/2023 (970 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It is hard to overstate the severity of the addictions crisis gripping Manitoba.

More than 400 people died of overdose in the province in 2021, and that number is likely to have climbed in 2022, though data is not yet available. Provincial data show the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service reported 499 overdose events in the third quarter of 2022, down only slightly from the previous quarter, and still significantly higher than a few years prior.

But not to worry: Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham and some councillors have learned to administer naloxone to reverse the effects of an overdose should they encounter one.

The city is saved.

Perhaps sarcasm is ungenerous. In a time of crisis, it could be taken as a well-intentioned gesture that a new mayor took the time to learn what to do should he be called upon to save the life of a person experiencing overdose. It speaks to his personal engagement on the issue and his desire to help in this time of crisis.

Here is the problem: that is about as good as it gets.

The ways to comprehensively address this crisis have been stated many times: greater funding and resources to organizations serving addicts; safe places for addicts to stay and receive the necessities of care and comfort; a well-kept health-care system that can handle the most severe incidents; and, according to many experts, supervised injection sites where addicts can use a safer supply in a safer environment. Affordable housing, better mental-health services, less precarity, less despair.

To be fair to the city, all this is beyond the ability of any one municipality. The can has been kicked down the road by a provincial government that has been reluctant to take major action on the issue, particularly regarding supervised injection sites.

The actual remedy for this problem will not come quickly, nor will it be cheap. It’s time our leaders accepted and acted on that truth.

Which is not to say the province is doing nothing at all — it has announced at least some funding for addictions-fighting initiatives in recent months. But the common refrain among those dealing with the issue on the ground is the same: it’s not enough.

One wonders, then, if more ever will be done or if the trickle will continue at its current rate, at best.

So this is what Manitobans get instead. Naloxone kits available at neighbourhood pharmacies and community organizations, and city employees — right up to the mayor — trained in their use in case someone happens to overdose outside the council chamber.

By this logic, we should do away with firefighters and be ready with our garden hoses, in the event our neighbour’s space heater begins to throw sparks. Pumper trucks, trained personnel and station houses are terribly expensive.

It took little time for the mayor and councillors to take their lesson. All the same, the time would have been more nobly spent making calls to Premier Heather Stefanson, yet again, haranguing for the province to do its bit — or failing that, focusing on using the city’s own, lesser resources to alleviate the issue itself.

The actual remedy for this problem will not come quickly, nor will it be cheap. It’s time our leaders accepted and acted on that truth.

Manitobans appreciate their leaders want to show they care.

But surely they would prefer a world where our institutions can address these issues well enough that there is no need for them to carry ampoules of opioid antagonist around with them.