Some advocates say supervised consumption site won’t truly help those in need

The 2024 Manitoba budget includes $2.5 million toward opening a supervised consumption site in Winnipeg next year, but two former drug users and some advocates don’t think it will be as impactful to help put people on the path to recovery. 

“My thoughts on having a safe injection site in the North End would be pretty much an all around bad idea, too many red flags,” said James Audy, a former drug user.

Audy is a former gang member, drug user and was homeless on the streets for 10 years.

“I was into heroin, meth, fentanyl, pills, morphine, coke, alcohol, like everything,” he explained.

Now he is almost six months sober and is in recovery at Winnipeg’s Morberg House. Audy says there are other, more effective ways to help drug users than safe consumption sites.

“It will save lives, but you have to get to the root of the problem, and it is recovery. The only reason I recovered was because I had complex trauma and I am learning to deal with it now,” said Audy.

Claudemier Bighetty has been sober since October. He was formerly a drug and alcohol user and was in prison for 26 years. Bighetty doesn’t think opening a safe consumption site will tackle the drug addiction issue.

“It’s going to be a drug dealers gold mine. They are going to go there, sell their drugs there, the person is going to do their thing. They will be safe there because they will have someone to make sure they don’t OD, but after that, it’s just going to get worse and worse,” said Bighetty.

Marion Willis from St. Boniface Street Links says consumption programs may benefit part of the drug-using population but says harm reduction strategies to reduce overdose deaths must be more comprehensive.

“I’d like to see a lot more effort put into an overall harm reduction strategy and safe consumption, and safe supply, which would be one component, but I think we need a much larger comprehension strategy,” said Willis.

Premier Wab Kinew says the government will take the next year to consult with community groups on where to place the site.

“At the end of the day, what we want is a path towards primary care, a path towards addiction medicines, a path towards somebody leading a more positive life in the future.”