WINNIPEG, MB (TREATY 1 TERRITORY AND HOMELAND OF THE RED RIVER METIS) - Information publicized by the Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service shows that the number of drug poisoning incidents responded to by WPFS were naloxone was needed has nearly doubled in the first two weeks of July 2023 over the year previous. This data underscores the urgent and immediate need for supervised consumption services in Winnipeg as part of a continuum of care focused on harm reduction principles.

“The Manitoba government under Premier Stefanson has done everything in its power to kick the can on supervised consumption sites down the road and past the next election,” said Thomas Linner, provincial director of the Manitoba Health Coalition. “The problem with this is that people are experience drug poisoning events and dying needlessly - every day - on streets and in homes in every neighborhood and every community in Manitoba.”

In just the last year, the Manitoba government has:

• Relied on complete fabrications about non-existent supervised consumption sites, in states that have never had them, to argue argue against introducing them in Manitoba
• Refused to put forward accurate or timely data on overdose deaths
• Introduced draconian legislation designed to shut down the province’s only overdose prevention service
• Presided over a naloxone shortage which has hampered the work of community organizations working with the most vulnerable populations

“This information from the WFPS confirms the experience of community organizations indicating a greater prevalence of toxic drug events and an increased need to deploy naloxone throughout the community,” said Linner. “Our loved ones and relatives cannot wait for life-saving measures to be put in place. We need action, now.”

• Source: Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service

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