Spike in Winnipeg drug poisoning calls not surprising, highlights need for safe supply: advocate

Two days after the nine-year anniversary of her son's overdose, Arlene Last-Kolb is not surprised to hear about a recent surge in drug poisoning in Winnipeg and she's frustrated she's still waiting for the provincial government to act.

The number of drug poisoning calls where naloxone a medication that reverses or reduces the effects of opioids was needed nearly doubled in the first two weeks of July 2023 over the same period in2022, according to City of Winnipeg data.

From July 1 to July 16, 2023, the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service responded to 183 calls related to drug poisoning with an average of 11.4 calls per day. During those same 16 days in 2022, the service responded to 103 calls, averaging at 6.4 calls a day.

"Numbers are increasing all the time," said Last-Kolb, co-founder of Overdose Awareness Manitoba and board member of Moms Stop the Harm, in an interview with CBC on Thursday.

"I'm not surprised because I hear about this all the time," she said.

For Last-Kolb, the recent spike in calls highlights the need for a safe drug supply and safe consumption sites in the city.

"Safe supply is just the gap between dying and treatment. So, let's focus on the gap," she said. "Let's just make it safe for people."

Thomas Linner, executive director of the Manitoba Health Coalition, also said the number of drug poisoning calls this month make sense, given the city's growing toxic drug supply.

"The prevalence of the toxic drug supply is growing, the lethality is growing, and the need for interventions is growing at a staggering rate," Linner said, adding that the province loses one person each day to the crisis.

"This is a wave that is hitting Manitoba that we are turning a blind eye to," he said.

Manitoba is the only province in western Canada without a safe consumption site, which provides a space for people to test and use drugs safely, Linner said.

The provincial government has opposed supervised consumption sites, a decision that Linner said has directly led to the "chaos" seen on Winnipeg's streets.

Manitoba's minister of health and community wellness, Janice Morley-Lecomte, said in an email that the province "believes in a recovery-oriented system of care and providing services that allow a pathway so individuals can heal," and that this is the "best approach for Manitoba families."

She said the government has been providing naloxone to those who help people with substance issues, has increased support for more than 1,600 treatment spaces, has opened rapid access addiction medicine (RAAM) clinics, and has implemented withdrawal management services.

But, Linner said, these services prove worthless if someone dies.

"No one receives any kind of treatment, no one receives any of those services if they die of an overdose," he said.

Less stigma, more education needed: advocate

The Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service has seen a steady increase in substance use calls since 2016, public education co-ordinator Cory Guest said.

But that number has also grown significantly in the last three or four months, he said, due to more substance use happening in the city and more lethal, unregulated drugs on the streets.

"We're having a harder time treating overdosing because it's such a mixed bag of unknown things that are out there," Guest said.

While Guest said the calls haven't affected the service's ability to respond to other emergencies in the city, one less vehicle available means calls need to be triaged.

"The more calls that are thrown at our department it is more challenging for us," he said, adding that responding to the community is the service's job, and he supports the work harm reduction groups do.

For Last-Kolb, part of the solution also comes from more education about toxic drugs and less stigma for those who might use them.

"I hope the shame is going away. I hope that people are realizing that their children deserve justice, they deserved better and that maybe we can't help our children anymore, but we sure can demand that there's change made," she said.

Advocates see recent spike in drug poisoning calls and call for government to act

1 year ago

Duration 2:18

Two days after the nine-year anniversary of her son's overdose, Arlene Last-Kolb is not surprised to hear about a recent surge in drug poisoning in Winnipeg and she's frustrated she's still waiting for the provincial government to act.