Government must move faster to stop drug deaths

Opinion

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This article was published 14/05/2024 (479 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The NDP government has purchased two drug-testing machines that will help detect potentially deadly substances in unregulated street drugs. It is an important step towards the eventual establishment of Manitoba’s first permanent supervised consumption site.

But it is only an interim one. The province must act more quickly to address a rapidly evolving drug overdose crisis that is killing Manitobans in record numbers.

People who use unregulated street drugs are not always aware of the contents of what they are consuming. The new machines, which together cost $200,000 (that includes the cost of training staff to use them), determine the components of the drugs being tested. They can immediately alert its users of potentially deadly substances.

Ergo, they can save lives.

The new designer drug desalkylgidazepam, for example, was detected in 18 cases of overdose deaths in January, according to recent data released by the office of the chief medical examiner. Drug testing may have prevented some of those deaths.

One machine will be operated by the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority’s Healthy Sexuality and Harm Reduction’s street connections team. The other will be used by a community-based organization in downtown Winnipeg (the province has yet to reveal which one).

Minister of Addictions Bernadette Smith said in an interview last week the province is planning to purchase more drug testing machines. At least one of those will be located in northern Manitoba.

The new units are a positive development in the fight against fatal drug overdoses. However, far more urgency is needed around the establishment of a supervised consumption site, which is expected to be located in downtown Winnipeg.

The NDP government says it needs more time to develop a “made-in-Manitoba” site and that one will not open until next year. Given the snail’s pace at which governments often operate, that timeline could be stretched further.

Such a delay is unacceptable.

There were 56 drug-related deaths in January alone in Manitoba. That’s the highest monthly total since 57 deaths were recorded in August 2021. There were 445 drug-related deaths last year, down slightly from 2022 but higher than the 432 fatalities in 2021.

This is a crisis. It is one that requires a level of urgency Manitobans are not seeing from their provincial government.

Supervised consumption sites have proven to save lives by reversing the effects of overdoses that could otherwise be fatal. They usually include wraparound services, such as access to addictions treatment, public health services and harm reduction supplies, including clean pipes and needles, which reduce the risk of spreading communicable diseases.

The NDP government says it wants to see a full-service supervised consumption site that includes access to primary care, housing supports and employment income assistance. Those are laudable goals. However, in its quest for the ideal site, the government is causing unnecessary delay.

Manitoba does not have to re-invent the wheel when it comes to establishing supervised consumption sites. There are models across Canada, indeed around the world, that Manitoba can emulate, at least to begin with. There is also expertise within the province’s harm reduction community that government can tap into. There is nothing stopping the province from expanding and fine tuning the site once it is operational.

Given the mountains of literature on their effectiveness, it should not take another year or more to open a supervised consumption site in Manitoba.

The NDP government must move faster to establish the first one in Manitoba. Lives are depending on it.