NDP pushes for safe consumption sites

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This article was published 31/10/2022 (785 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Manitoba NDP are calling on the Tory government to support safe consumption sites in the province.

The Opposition presented a letter in the legislative assembly Tuesday from more than 80 front-line service providers, asking the province to address Manitoba’s toxic drug supply.

At a news conference earlier in the day, at the Red River College Polytechnic’s campus downtown, Mental Health and Community Wellness Minister Sarah Guillemard announced the province would expand access to naloxone — a medication used to reverse adverse reactions to opioids — by approving more distribution sites and spending $210,000 more on kits this year.

A $200,000 pilot project to distribute Narcan, the nasal version of naloxone, at pharmacies will also be rolled out this year. She also announced $215,000 in funding for St. Boniface Street Links — a front-line, non-profit organization that didn’t sign the open letter presented in the house.

Later in the house, NDP health critic Uzoma Asagwara called on Guillemard to commit to timely updates on overdose deaths, readily available drug-testing machines and safe consumption sites.

They pointed to the open letter, dated Monday, calling for urgent action from the provincial government to address overdose deaths and the toxic drug supply.

“It will save countless lives,” Asagwara said during question period.

Data show the number of overdose deaths is on the rise, with 372 in 2020, 407 in 2021, and 250 in the first half of this year — suggesting Manitoba is on track to report 500 such deaths in 2022.

“When will the minister finally listen to these organizations?” the health critic said.

Guillemard responded by saying she has listened — firsthand — while visiting St. Boniface Street Links’ Morberg House (a 12-bed transitional residence for men in recovery).

“I have yet to meet with somebody who has gone through recovery who said that they wanted to stay dependent on illicit drugs,” the minister told the house. “All of them didn’t believe that there was an avenue off — a path to health. There is.

“We have front-line workers who believe in them. Our government believes in them and we will invest to help them achieve health.”

— with files from Danielle Da Silva

carol.sanders@freepress.mb.ca

Open letter calling for action on overdose deaths

Carol Sanders
Legislature reporter

After 20 years of reporting on the growing diversity of people calling Manitoba home, Carol moved to the legislature bureau in early 2020.

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