'Can't keep letting fentanyl win': Safe supply of drugs needed to fight Winnipeg's crisis, says advocate

A safe place to consume drugs is vital to saving lives, but even more crucial in the harm-reduction ap‐ proach is providing a safe supply of drugs, says a Win‐ nipeg mom whose son died from fentanyl poisoning.

"We won't change things enough unless we do some‐ thing about the supply. That's the most important thing that we have to move for‐ ward on," said Arlene LastKolb, co-founder of Overdose Awareness Manitoba and member of Moms Stop the Harm.

"We just have to convince the people that it can really make the difference, that this is the right way to go. We need to do this today."

Since the death of her 24year-old son Jessie in July 2014, Last-Kolb has lobbied for compassionate treat‐ ment, including a safer drug supply.

Street drugs are now being laced with highly addic‐ tive opioids and other sub‐ stances like animal tranquiliz‐ ers, making them extremely dangerous, in many cases.

Last year, preliminary da‐ ta says there were 445 sus‐ pected overdose deaths in Manitoba, with 54 in Decem‐ ber alone. The province says there were 132 drug-related deaths the year Jessie died, 96 of which were ruled acci‐ dents.

"I want everybody to know that we're not just talk‐ ing about people that live on the street. People are dying in our homes, in our base‐ ments," said Last-Kolb.

You can't keep telling peo‐ ple to not take drugs if they are hooked - it's not possible for them, she added.

Stigma and shame also keep them from seeking help and push them to dangerous places to feed the addiction, said Last-Kolb.

The solution, she said, is to give them what they need to stay alive while they seek help.

"Our government has the power to change things. Re‐ place the toxic street drugs with a regulated supply of drugs. We could look at it the same way that we've done cannabis, that we've done al‐ cohol," she said.

"Let's not call it safe sup‐ ply [or] safe regulated supply. Let's call it doing the right thing."

By starting with a safe supply and an open discus‐ sion, it may be possible for someone to get the support they need to work toward easing off opioids, said LastKolb.

"We can't keep letting fen‐ tanyl win. Jessie sure didn't want to die."

Report calls for 'safe and sanctioned drug supply'

An independent report re‐ leased on Thursday, evaluat‐ ing the first year of Win‐ nipeg's mobile overdose pre‐ vention site (MOPS), says while the program has ex‐ ceeded expectations and pre‐ vented many drug deaths, more needs to be done to ensure a safe supply of drugs.

The mobile site, a con‐ verted RV operated by Sun‐ shine House, travels around Winnipeg's core area provid‐ ing a supervised consump‐ tion site, while also distrib‐ uting harm reduction sup‐ plies and testing drugs.

In its first year, from Octo‐ ber 2022 to October 2023, the MOPS team recorded 26,154 visits, with drugs con‐ sumed 7,086 times. There were zero deaths.

The report advocates for the creation of several super‐ vised consumption sites in Winnipeg to increase those benefits.

But "if we truly want to stop toxic drug poisonings, we should look at having a safe and sanctioned drug supply," the report states.

Bernadette Smith, minis‐ ter of housing, addictions and homelessness, said in a statement Friday the province values advocates' calls for solutions to the drug toxicity crisis, but that it's "not looking at safe supply."

"Our primary focus now is on creating the province's first supervised consumption site and making drug testing available," the minister said. "We will continue to work with community organiza‐ tions and experts on a harm reduction approach."

The report acknowledges that's an "often politically contentious" subject, but says it "is also a useful tool to reduce the harms caused by toxic drugs and unknown poly-drug combinations."

According to the report, government of Canada early research findings suggest safe supply is associated with a range of benefits, including lower overdose rates, re‐ duced hospital admissions and ER visits, decreased crim‐ inal activity, and improved connections to care and treatment for people who have not had those supports.

Last-Kolb said toxic drugs are not only "killing our loved ones every day, but the toxic‐ ity is causing such great dam‐ age to our loved ones that it is having a rippling effect on our whole community."

"Everybody needs to wor‐ ry about it because every‐ body is affected by what is happening in our province, whether that is through death, crime, mental health, everything."

A combination of super‐ vised consumption sites and safer supply would be power‐ ful, but still not enough against the drug crisis, the re‐ port states.

"Each of these services are intended to complement a much more robust and holistic range of supports" backed by mental health and crisis response services, holistic housing, and commu‐ nity connections, it says.

"People who use drugs may seek treatment and then relapse many times, and the services must remain avail‐ able throughout each per‐ son's journey."

Sunshine House executive director Levi Foy agreed.

"This [MOPS] is part of a larger network, a larger part of caring for one another and caring for individuals in new and unique ways that our current system just is not managing," he said at a news conference on Thursday, where the report was re‐ leased.

Last-Kolb said she won't stop pushing until that full vi‐ sion of care is complete.

"I would not be here if I didn't think that this was im‐ portant," she said. "I will not get my son back. But at least I will know that I did all I could to do the right thing.

"If your child dies, no amount of treatment, no amount of justice, no amount of policing is going to bring them back."