Advocates release drug overdose data after province fails to do so

Advocates have released information about how many people died last year from drug overdoses in Manitoba after the provincial government refused to release the data.

Arlene Last-Kolb lost her son, Jessie in 2014 due to a fentanyl overdose. He was just 24-years-old.

“He was the love of our life. He was everything to us, everything. I honour him by doing everything I am doing right now,” said Last-Kolb.

She has been advocating to reverse overdose trendS since her son passed away eight years ago, however, she says the numbers are only getting worse.

Arlene with her son Jessie. (Photo Credit: Alex Karpa, CityNews)

In 2020, there were 372 overdose deaths in Manitoba. That number jumped to 424 deaths in 2021. However, the province has not released the numbers for 2022.

“I feel it is important that the public knows what kind of drugs are on our street. We have to be informed.”

Last-Kolb is part of the advocacy group called Moms Stop the Harm. The group was able to obtain data from the chief medical examiner’s office, which shows there were at least 377 deaths in the first 11 months of 2022.

“Right now, our numbers are out of control.”

Last-Kolb says these numbers wouldn’t be talked about right now if it wasn’t for her advocacy group attaining them, because the Stefanson government has not released that data. A government spokesperson tells CityNews that the province “does not provide or report on preliminary or incomplete information.”

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But Last-Kolb says the government should be transparent and let the public know what’s circulating on the streets.

“I’m angry. I’m pretty angry because they have had plenty of opportunities to do different things,” said Last-Kolb. “I’m tired. I’m tired of this crap.”

From January 2016 to June 2022, there were 32,632 opioid-related deaths in Canada. Marion Willis from St. Boniface Street Links says the numbers on overdose deaths, specifically those in Manitoba, are unfortunately far worse than what is being reported.

“There are many more deaths that are a direct consequence of the very heavy use of substances in this city and province. I will keep saying it, until we move the focus, we are never going to get ahead of this,” explained Marion Willis, founder of St. Boniface Street Links.

The current Manitoba government has refused to support and fund supervised drug consumption sites. Willis says while she recognizes the pros and cons of supervised consumption sites, instead of having the province decide what needs to be done, she wants more input from the drug-using population.

“We actually need a strategy, and I can’t say that enough. We still don’t have a strategy. If you don’t have a strategy, you have no system of care, you have no way of measuring any kind of outcomes. The people who should be informing the strategy are the people who are using substances. Not me and not anyone else out there.”

Last-Kolb says failed drug policies and a lack of government response are continuing to impact families and communities and will continue to do so if nothing CHANGES.

“We cannot accept that this government continues to hide what is going on in our city when every day I am meeting mothers just like myself. We have to do something else. We will never treat our way out of a toxic drug supply.”