The province is putting the onus on Manitoba’s rural health authorities to clean up needles used to inject drugs and offering funding to help them create “comprehensive” disposal and cleanup plans.
“To help provide support while keeping our communities safe and healthy, the Manitoba government is mandating that all regional health authorities develop comprehensive disposal and cleanup plans, as a condition for provincial funding for harm reduction activities,” Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith said in a letter sent this week to officials with Southern Health, Prairie Mountain Health, Northern Health, and Interlake-Eastern Regional Health.
The move comes after recent outcry in some rural communities, including the Town of Swan River and the Municipality of Swan Valley, both located in the Prairie Mountain Health region, about clean drug needles being handed out by local health authorities as part of harm reduction efforts.
Swan River Mayor Lance Jacobson and Swan Valley Reeve Bill Gade both previously told The Winnipeg Sun that discarded needles have been increasingly piling up in their communities, posing health and safety risks, and creating unwanted litter and both have been asking the province for clarification on who should be tasked with cleaning up the needles.
Smith says the government will also support health authorities, as they are tasked with needle cleanup, as the province also announced $30,000 in new funding will go to each health authority to help them launch their needle disposal plans.
“Proper disposal plans will help stop the spread of infectious diseases thereby reducing patient
loads and hospital wait times, and strengthen public safety,” Smith said.
According to Smith, the funding may be used to install disposal containers in public spaces, launch needle cleanup teams and/or facilitate “safe disposal initiatives” tailored to the needs of communities.
She said the province will continue to try to balance the need for harm reduction services with maintaining public safety.
“We want all communities in Manitoba to be safe and healthy places to live and grow. We have a shared responsibility to ensure that our efforts to support people struggling with addictions also make our communities safer and healthier.
“The Manitoba government is committed to working to support those struggling with addictions and to make addiction services more effective. Our actions are guided by the four pillars of prevention, treatment, enforcement, and harm reduction.”
Both Swan River and Swan Valley have passed motions in council recently to try to get a handle on the needle situation and to get the province to address it.
A resolution passed at a Swan River council meeting earlier this year calls for the town to commence “any and all necessary actions to cease and prevent the distribution of all injectable drug syringes and related paraphernalia within the town by all organizations providing such materials.”
Swan Valley took a far more hardline approach, as a bylaw passed at one of their council meetings now makes it an offence to distribute needles, drugs, or drug supplies in the community, without first receiving written permission from council with fines starting at $1,000.
Communities are also planning to take their concerns with discarded needles to the Association of Manitoba Municipalities (AMM). A resolution being brought by Swan River and co-sponsored by The Pas to the AMM’s fall convention in Winnipeg this week will ask the province to address needle cleanup and the distribution practices of harm reduction organizations that distribute clean needles.
Jacobson and Gade both could not be reached for comment on Tuesday.
