Meth use in Winnipeg causing outbreak of blood-borne illnesses, new documents say

The rising use of methamphetamine could cause more outbreaks of blood-borne illnesses, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority warns.

The health authority'sinternalreports, obtained by the provincial New Democrats and given to the media, say rates of hepatitis B, hepatitis C, syphilis and HIV are increasingdramatically, at least in partbecause of the prevalence of the drug.

One briefing note also describes a "lack of provincial leadership" in theprevention and control of communicable diseases.

"These documents show the meth crisis in Winnipeg is now becoming a public health crisis," Opposition NDP Leader Wab Kinew said Tuesday, referring toinformationfound ina printout of a slide presentation on meth in Winnipeg, an email and briefing notes.

The currentoutbreak of acute hepatitis B is "almost exclusively linked to injection drug use," one memo says. The 40 cases reported since 2016 are nine times the number during the previous decade, according to the WRHAmemo.

A significant rise in hepatitis C cases among people under age 25 is also connected to the injection of drugs, the memo says, while anunprecedented hike in syphilis rates appears to be tiedspecifically to crystal meth.

'Achallenge for all of us': Health minister

"It means that this issue is not just affecting peoplewho are addicted to methamphetamine, but also that it can spread to the broader population," Kinew said.

More than 400syphilis cases are projected in 2018compared to over 120 annually in 2015, 2016 and 2017, the WRHAsaid at a news conference Tuesday.

Nearly half of the people who contracted the illness had ingestedcrystal meth recently.

The WRHAdocumentssaythe currentsupports available to meth users are not sufficient.

There are no "clear, clinical pathways" to direct people suffering from psychosis, and the city lackscommunity-based resources and preventative programs, say the documents, which were obtainedby the NDPunder a freedom of information request.

People are welcome to their opinions, but they're not welcome to their own facts.- Health Minister Cameron Friesen

The health-care system cannot handle thenumber of mental health and acute care patients being admitted due to meth use,according to aWRHAdocument, which the health authoritysaid was produced inAugust.

Present addictiontreatment, the documentsays, is ineffective and often unavailable.

One briefing note sayssixbeds the province added at Health Sciences Centre to deal with rising meth use were temporary treatment options that will be reallocated elsewhere, though it does not say where.

Health Minister Cameron Friesensays sincethat August briefing note,the government instructed those beds to remain in place.

"We don't need in Manitoba a freedom of information request received by the NDP to remind Manitobansthat we have a problem right now on methamphetamine," he said."It's increasingrapidly and it's a challenge for all of us."

Investments in the last few months, he said, include new walk-in clinics, a new medication that paramedics can give out and last week's joint $8.4 million announcement with the federal government to build more treatment beds and create mobile withdrawal teams.

Friesenarguedhis government has displayed leadership onthe issue,and any assertion the "historical" briefing note makes to the contrary is an opinion held by a WRHA working group of community members.

Thesame document, though, describes its information as peer-reviewed and based onauthoritative evidence.

"People are welcome to their opinions, but they're not welcome to their own facts," Friesen said.

Province leading on meth treatment: WRHA

Gina Trinidad, chief health operations officer for the health authority, saidthe Manitoba government is now a leader on the file.

"Certainly," she said. "Withthe whole provincial strategy around the Virgo report on mental health and addictions, absolutely."

According to an internal email the NDP received, the health authority introduced a new crystal meth regional action plan in late October, with progress updates to be sharedweekly with executives.

In the same email, a WRHAexecutive requested that it be kept private.

Asked at a news conference if the health authority wouldmake the reports public, Trinidad said the WRHAhas already shared its broad priorities withthe public.

One of the documents the NDPobtained also said the WRHA was expecting a report this fall evaluating the need for a supervised injection site. Trinidad said the health authority is still considering such a site.

It's needed to help addressthe province's meth problem, Kinew said.

He suggests Manitoba also needs hundreds more treatment beds, where patients couldstay for as long as a year.

Crime skyrocketing, Prairie police say

Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Prairie police chiefstold a House of Commons health committee that methamphetamine is fuelling a crime wave in some of Western Canada's biggest cities.

Calgary's interim police Chief Steve Barlow told the committeethat city's crime rate is going through the roof as the price of meth drops.

Drugs are a factor in almost half of police-involved shootings, Barlow said.

Winnipeg police Chief Danny Smythsaidmeth is causing abacklog in responding to other crime, because officers are tied up in health-care facilities with meth users.

Winnipeg police have seized more than 20 kilograms of meth this year nearly double what was obtained the year before.

Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman told the committee Ottawa must create a national strategy on illicit drugs, including meth, as well as strengthen border protection and provide more resources for mental health.

He's concerned that organized crime is shifting its energies to methamphetaminenow that recreational cannabis islegalized.

"Our resources are stretched and, of course, we really do need the support of the federal government to help with mental health addictions andhomelessness," he told the committee.

Kim Longstreet, an addictions advocate from Brandon, recalled the 11 years she watched her son slowlysuccumb to the world of drugs.

Although he used other drugs, she said no substance took hold of her son quite likemethamphetamine. He's received treatment numerous times, but has always relapsed.

"Every timeIhear a siren or the phone rings at odd hours, I wonder if this is the call," Longstreetsaid.

"To some, this will make me sound like a terrible parent, but sometimes I do imagine that thatcall is the call, for which my son will finally have peace from the war that our society appears to be losing."

Meth use in Winnipeg causing outbreak of blood-borne illnesses, new documents say

6 years ago

Duration 2:37

The rising use of methamphetamine could cause more outbreaks of blood-borne illnesses, the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority warns.