Lamont Blasts Pallister Gov't For Fudged Used Needle Numbers, Opens Door for Meth Detox Unit at 800 Adele

Manitoba Liberal leader Dougald Lamont stated Friday that our report questioning free needle guesstimates by health officials is evidence "there needs be more accountability for recorded data" by the Pallister government and health officials when it comes to meth and opiate policy.

"It is very unfortunate, but not surprising, that the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority's estimate of discarded needles was so far from actual numbers," Lamont said at an election pre-campaign announcement in his riding of St. Boniface.

"The understatement of discarded needles by at least 400% from the WRHA is unacceptable and speaks volumes to the PCs that are currently in government."

The "harm reduction" philosophy of the WRHA has been to supply every intravenous drug user in the city with all the rigs they need - calculated at 2 Million for this year - at no charge.

Lamont argued that "Some of the money for this has come from other prevention programs", pointing out the actual budget line for the free needle exchange only affords 200,000 spikes, so other programs have been backstopping the shortfall. 

He believes our analysis showing an increase from 10,000 to 120,000 in estimated used needle pick-ups in the last year proves the free needle program has backfired. 

"The PCs have offered short term pain for even longer term pain by starving the health system of resources that could have prevented new addictions and infections. Currently, the RHAs are responding to media requests on behalf of the government - with no accountability to the government in power." 

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Lamont was complimentary about our series of columns since last October exposing the absence of epistemological observation by the WRHA and Manitoba Housing. Neither provincial agency maps needle finds by location or by volume, undermining the ability of city officials to get a grasp on how to protect residents navigating around needles strewn on boulevards, parks, parking lots and their own yards. 

"Good data is very important for governments to make the right policy choices and Manitobans deserve to know the extent of issues within their communities", continued Lamont. "Meth is a crisis in Manitoba and Manitoba Liberals are the only party committed to a better plan that addresses addictions for all Manitobans."

As seen in this video, Lamont also opened the door to hearing out a proposal by a successful residential meth treatment  program in St. Boniface to designate an unused building with secure treatment beds and triage areas at 800 Adele Ave. in the West End, as a new drug treatment and education hub. 

As reported this week by CTV Winnipeg, CBC Manitoba and the Winnipeg Free Press, Marion Willis of Morberg House has urged the Brian Pallister government and the owners of the building to set aside their legal dispute and for the province to work with agencies like hers, the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba and others to fund a meth stabilization unit and treatment and education services at the former Grey Nun residence, calling it a potential "centre of excellence" for drug recovery services. 

Last year, she described the inadequate funding allotments to the meth crisis as consigning front-line agencies like hers  to "fighting a war with a water gun."

The initiative was spurred after the owners of 800 Adele saw our 3 part interview with Willis last month and asked to be put in contact with her.

Blackboard inside 800 Adele, abandonded by child welfare program

The provincial PC government, and the Premier personally, is being sued after tabling legislation to cancel the last half of a 20 year lease signed by the Southern First Nations (child and family services) Authority, which is ultimately paid for with provincial government funding. Pallister insisted the rent was unaffordable and the building, a former Grey Nun residence, was vacated and is now sits unoccupied as the court proceedings grind forward. 

Lamont, who has not seen the interior of 800 Adele, felt "It's something that absolutely should be considered... We've called for drug stabilization units, and we need them, if that's what the experts say it would be suitable for, then we should absolutely be looking at it."

"If this fits in with (our) plan ... it sounds good."

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Reader reaction to our investigation into the WRHA's scientific citations and used needle estimates was strong, and comments will be included in our next instalment of the series. One reader says his math equates to there being 50,000 meth addicts in Winnipeg.

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WRHA Lowballed Dirty Needle Pick Ups By 400% Last Year; Rate Up 1200% In Last 9 Months

When I started my investigation into used needles polluting our streets parks and backlanes, and the effect on meth use on neighborhoods near Manitoba Housing units last fall, it was because I had been repeatedly approached by 'average' people - a lot of them actually - about the changes to their neighborhood 
safety. 

They felt their worries about the danger to their families and pets posed by users dropping their meth needles was being not just ignored, but suppressed. It was polluting their streets, parks and backlanes, homes, parking lots, businesses, rental properties -and sometimes on playgrounds, too - and those voters last fall felt their urgency was being ignored by city councilors and MLA's. 

They couldn't make heads or tails out about the role and responsibilities of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority, especially since the agency, via field programs, "partners", and clinics, was handing out literally, as many needles as (aspiring?) drug addicts asked for.

I've previously mentioned that the first Winnipeg news coverage about used needles found on boulevards - during the Talwin and Ritalin craze 30 years ago - came about when I took Kelly Dehn of CTV, early in his cop and crime beat career, for a sightseeing tour in my taxi of my discoveries in South Point Douglas. So I was no novice to this field of reporting. 

(Left) James Favel, Executive Director of the Bear Clan

I took on this needle investigation - with no fiscal structure to support the research, which you can help me out with as explained in this story .

I did it because I knew, the Winnipeg public was being let down and it was dangerous. 

That's why the Bear Clan jumped in to help.

I have spent a lot of time asking some important questions about the scientific foundation of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority policies and practices and in particular the harm reduction centrepiece - a free needle exchange program. 

And it was worse than I imagined. And now we've learned, it's worse than James Favel imagined too.

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Part and parcel of promoting the benefits of "harm reduction" programs and garnering public acceptance for them, involves addressing if those programs result in more needles dumped around neighborhoods.  

The WRHA relied on citations about needle return rates, as well as measuring the discarded needles being picked up against their total sharp distribution, which is now well over 2 million. 

* This information was provided to assure me nothing was amiss with their programs in 2018. 

* Their programs were based on 2 US studies - that were concluded before 2001. 

Think nothing was amiss? 
Consider the following 'Math With Marty' equation:  

A) WRHA email October 1, 2018: 

"Discarding unsafely in public is a rare practice ...
Discarded needle numbers are estimated to be between 5,000-10,000 per year currently in Winnipeg (estimated from Street Connections calls for pick up, Bear Clan and other pick up program reports)."

"This represents less than 1% of the total number of needles distributed annually." { Ed note - we'll get back to that part later} 

 B) CTV Winnipeg March 19, 2019 

"Bear Clan Patrol executive director James Favel said last year the group recovered 40 thousand needles on Winnipeg streets, on track to at least double that amount in 2019 ... “We could do 60 or 80,000 this year and that's a scary statistic there."

C) July 25 2019 Global Winnipeg interview with the Bear Clan:

James Favel, the organization’s executive director, said they’re already on track to recover 120,000 needles this year.

By March, the escalation of street needles was obvious; BUT facing what they learned by July, Bear Clan probably wishes it was going to be only 60,000 pick ups, they're facing double that. That's why they're fed up.

To Summarize:

- The "10,000" high-end estimate was actually 40,000 used needles, last year (at least). 

- That 10,000 needles estimated last year will be 120,000 needles estimated, this year.  

- Winnipeg has a 1200% increase from the estimate of used needles being picked up made 9 months ago. 

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So you're thinking: 
How in the blue hell did the WRHA give an estimate about carelessly discarded needles for last year that was at least 400% out of whack? 

If the WRHA screwed up this bad on estimating how many needles were ending up on our streets, what else did they 'miscalculate'?  How many users? 

I kept digging, asking about raw data, how were needle counts being done and validated, public education programs ... I'd get answers, some of which weren't answers at all -- but asking too many questions resulted in the health mandarins saying personnel were just too busy to research the answers that flowed from their emails to me. 

I was even told I should file a Freedom of Information request to get any action on the unanswered questions. This week, using only the information and data they provided me without a FIPPA, I'm going to walk thru the evidence.

A month after claiming only 10,000 needles were being dumped onto Winnipeg streets and properties, the WRHA newsletter touted the success of their "harm reduction" strategy of giving out free needles

I think the evidence will show the WRHA massaged definitions to suit their needs and manipulated the limited data they had - some of which was 20 or more years old - to fib that they had a handle on the growing discarded needle problem. 

For instance, this whopper, which will come up later in the investigation: 

"Harm reduction programs often recover as many needles as they distribute, which means fewer used needles discarded in the community."

Now granted, I only have a Grade 12 education, but if that's supposed to be how it works, the opposite was happening in the city. So here's the logical question I sent to the WRHA about that assertion:

Does the WRHA have any studies that investigated the ‘meth’ effect on needle return rates?

They said they wouldn't have time to answer that one.

Or have time to answer this next one either - actually a follow-up when I was sniffing out inconsistencies in their material:

"the presence of a needle exchange program ... a decrease in injection frequency has been observed ..." 

I researched this and in a medical context, the term "observed" means that a decrease was not statistically significant - ie .5%. 

So I asked: 

... Does the WRHA have any data that would, on a local level, support any assertion there has been "a decrease in injection frequency"?

Do you think that's a reasonable question? So do I. NO answer.

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What the WRHA tried to do, was pseudo-cite science - in other words, refer to study findings without proving the relevance of the details they are citing to the current situation in Winnipeg. 

That made it easier to pretend the WRHA was overseeing a properly planned and executed free needle distribution programs under the umbrella of harm reduction. In reality, they were failing miserably. 

The current situation is, a lot of those WRHA free needles are not being disposed of by users, and the public is being put at risk. (Later you'll see me discuss with the WRHA about what "a lot" is. )

2018 - "10,000" estimated discards picked up.
2019 - Bear Clan says the trajectory is at 120,000.
A 1200% increase in estimates in only 9 months. 

It's no wonder the Bear Clan are fed up. 

“This is not why the organization started – so we can pick up bio-hazardous waste.”

Question for readers: 

Do ya think the original estimate the WRHA sent me was:

- Realistic? 

- Evidence- based? 

- A wild guess?   

* Paging Dr. Brain Postl. Math is hard. *

In a subsequent report, I will circle back to aspects of the WRHA responses that touched on City Hall more directly, and how it informed the City's handling of the explosion of drug debris.

(Which *spoiler alert* is to say  it let WRHA and Manitoba Housing policy endanger our neighborhoods - and had no data and no specific budget for needle pick ups.)

Before I get to that, more details to come of how provincial health and social service officials claimed their harm reduction policies and practices would work to reduce the used needle problem.  

I'm sure the Bear Clan would agree that a 1200% increase in discarded needles in 9 months speaks to the contrary. 

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To find links and watch my 3 part video interview about the operation of Morberg House, a residential meth treatment program in Winnipeg, click this link.

To read the 5 Recomendations I sent the Drug Task Force for Manitoba Housing to fix problems with their neighbours and with procedures about discarded needles, click here.  

To read the most popular story of 2019, my setting the record straight about Sherman Kreiner and his Crocus Fund ponzi scheme just like we did on 92.9 KICK-FM, click here.

To see news stories and editorials I produce as Editor-in-Chief about Jewish issues, Israel, and the fight against antisemitism, go to TheJ.ca

For a sneek peek at a Winnipeg Rock music documentary focusing on LOAD and 3 other bands, and the prediction of the Music Maven of Canadian Radio, Howard Mandshein, click here.

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Drug Task Force Heard Five Ideas To Fix Manitoba Housing Used Needle Policy

With the tri-government Illicit Drug Task Force set to release its 30 page report, it will be interesting to see whether important details I brought to light about free needle programs and the handling of unsafe used needles dumped around Winnipeg are incorporated into the findings and recommendations. 

They should be, since everytime I turned around, some official or other (including city councilors, MLA's and provincial health officials) were stunned at what I was uncovering about the trail meth users were leaving and lack of data being collected.

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In a series of columns published by Manitoba Post starting last March, I revealed that the provincial public housing authority – after some prodding by a well-placed contact involved in health care policy – elaborated on some murky answers they gave me when I began investigating the Free Needle Exchange Program and the overall scourge of discarded rigs in Winnipeg neighborhoods.  

Manitoba Housing produced a spreadsheet of their properties that has a used needle container on-site.

The total was 81. And that's just locations, not the total number of sharp bins.  

By comparison - and not disconnected to my ongoing investigation - the City has finally gotten up to about 20.

I've never heard that comparison reported in mainstream media, have you? 

My findings led me to ask Is Manitoba Housing Ground Zero of Winnipeg Meth Epidemic?  

In the course of my research, I have corresponded with Manitoba Housing, the WRHA, concerned medical professionals, business and property owners, residents, and working people employed within the community at large. 

Some of that earlier research was reflected in my story Marty Gold Puts Meth-Ematics of WRHA Free Needle Program Under the Microscope

I reported in a follow-up column about Manitoba Housing that they told me when someone calls 311, the City of Winnipeg provides people a referral to deal with used needles they found on their private property. 

I discovered that was 100% false, the City doesn't direct callers to any help with needle pick-up: 

Marty Gold Asks - Why does 311 keep this a secret?

(The City had other secrets it didn't want told, a story for another day. But it's the need to get this story and others like it out, that proves why our comeback to blogging and podcasting was needed. 

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My reports stirred the public. On the Manitoba Post Facebook page, a reader said “You don't need an Excel spreadsheet. All Winnipeg Housing and Manitoba Housing properties have a Meth issue. “ 

Another reader said she was taking the column to the advisory board for Central Neighborhoods Winnipeg and confirmed “There is no signage in MB housing buildings on who to contact in regards of finding needles.”

In March, I compiled a list of 5 recommendations that my health policy contact funneled to the Task Force. I was assured at least 3 members of the Meth Task Force have reviewed my submission.

So, here's what I came up with to enhance public safety.

I proposed that Manitoba Housing assist in collecting data about used needles, where they're found, and how many, which is required to inform good health policy. I also laid out steps to rectify deficiencies in Manitoba Housing health and safety practices and enshrine some transparency.

1)  Provide collection/disposal containers at all managed properties.

2)  Post signage directing staff, residents and visitors to where the collection containers are located. There is signage about how to dispose of sharps into the bins but it's directed only to employees. 

3) Signage should instruct tenants and visitors to contact a designated person to report discarded needles left on the property. That signage should include an email address, a phone number, and if possible directions to an on-site written notification deposit box that will be be emptied/reviewed daily.

4) Ensure any agreement with Street Connections (or any other agency) for needle pick-up EXPLICITLY REQUIRES that needles removed from its properties are counted / estimated by weight. That figure must be reported to MH and the WRHA, AND made available for public review WITHOUT requiring a FIPPA application.

5) Proactively develop and implement an action plan to mitigate the potential and actual danger and damage to the general community adjacent to its properties being caused by their tenants and guests discarding needles onto public (ie City of Winnipeg) and private property.

I will be glad to discuss my research and concerns with anyone who is involved in this field, especially with all members of the Meth Task Force, co-chaired by Deputy Minister of Health Karen Herd and Winnipeg Chief Corporate Services Officer Michael Jack.

Manitoba Housing was not represented on the Task Force, which in light of my findings about the depth of their involvement in needle collection and disposal in Winnipeg was a staggering omission.

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COMING NEXT: THE MARION FREEWAY HANGOVER HITS CITY HALL HARD