The number of adults seeking addictions treatment who report having used intravenous (IV) drugs in Thompson has risen over the past three years but the numbers are still small, with alcohol by far the most-abused substance in the north and cocaine the most commonly used hard drug, says the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba (AFM).
in 2017-18, 23 adult AFM clients in Thompson reported having injected drugs within the past year, up from 18 in 2016-17 and 10 in 2015-16, says Jennifer Faulder, the AFM’s communications director for corporate affairs and eastern and central Manitoba youth services. Only one youth client in Thompson has reported ever having injected drugs in the past three years.
Methamphetamines are becoming a significant problem in many communities, but that is not the case in Thompson.
Use of amphetamines, including meth, is rare among AFM’s youth clients in Thompson, with none of them having reported using them weekly or or more frequently in 2015-16 or 2017-18, though seven did in 2016-17.
Four adult clients in Thompson reported weekly or more frequent use of amphetamines in 2015-16. That jumped to 11 the following year and remained basically unchanged at 10 in 2017-18.
This matches the experience of RCMP officers.
“We have not encountered meth in Thompson, as most of our seizures are inclusive of cocaine and marijuana,” said Thompson RCMP detachment officer in charge Insp. Kevin Lewis. “That is not to say it is not here in small quantities, but we have not seized it.”
AFM’s northern director Gisele deMeulles said she expects that methamphetamine use could become more common.
“Anything that hits the city is bound to trickle down to us,” she said. “I think we will see an increase over time.”
Use of cocaine or crack is growing, often by people who also abuse alcohol, which still dwarfs other substances as a cause of addiction.
“The majority of people still come because of alcohol use but we offer treatment services to people who have issues with cocaine, crack and meth,” deMeulles said. “We’ve seen an increase in those cases coming forward lately but mostly the majority of cases in the north are still alcohol use.”
Whether a person chooses to use cocaine or its cheaper derivative crack is mainly a financial issue.
“We find that if people have the finances to be able to afford cocaine then we see use of cocaine,” deMeulles says. “In populations where financially there’s less resources then you’ll see more crack use.”
As far as opioids are concerned, most people who develop an addiction to those get started as a result of a medical issue.
“People start because of an injury and then in escalates,” deMeulles said. “They just keep taking it even though the injury is healed. Those kind of things, we still see a few cases of them. I wouldn’t say it’s a massive number. Any person living with that type of an addiction, it’s significant to them, but in terms of numbers it’s still not huge in the north but they’re there. We get them.”
And although residents of Thompson sometimes report finding needles in parks or along trails or in other public places, IV drug use is relatively infrequent.
“We do have a few more cases coming forward that they’re IV users but they’re not huge numbers yet for the north,” she said. “It’s not as huge as some of the other areas, certainly not as huge as Winnipeg. I just think there’s a resistance in the north to dabbling in needles but – who knows? – that might change. We hope it doesn’t.”
The Northern Regional Health Authority has two needle disposal containers in Thompson – one outside the clinic in the Thompson Plaza and the other outside the Thompson General Hospital – but doesn’t keep statistics on their use.
“We do not keep track of the number of needles disposed of,” says NRHA communications co-ordinator Twyla Storey. “They are emptied by maintenance and in Thompson we do not get a lot of needles deposited.”
That might be because few people are injecting drugs or because they don’t want to use the disposal sites where they are, says Safer Choices Northern Network (SCNN) co-ordinator Sharon Cordell.
“Areas that needles are being found would be of interest to SCNN, as we would like to have a sharps disposal box located in an appropriate place,” she says. “The two drop boxes available at this moment are by the hospital and clinic, highly visible areas which may be a deterrent to their use.”
Regardless of what needles people find may have been used for – whether “opioids that are injected or for prescription drug use,” says Lewis, they are still a potential danger. “Caution should still be exercised by the anyone that finds a discarded needle as there is risk of serious injury and transmission of disease.”
The coming legalization of marijuana may change the nature of drug addiction in Thompson and elsewhere.
“We’ll just have to see how things will be impacted if marijuana becomes legal and how that’s going to affect the types of drugs that are on the street,” said deMeulles, adding that anyone who has an addiction to or problem with any substance can access the AFM’s services, whether they are from Thompson, an outlying community or farther afield.
“Sometimes we’ll get people even from the south because they’re looking for a place that gives them that distance from people that put them at risk,” she says. “We’re here and we do have services available for people. No matter what they’re doing, we will certainly look to provide them with the best we can in terms of services. We do have people coming here with all kinds of addictions. We’re here to help people so if people have issues they should just seek us out and we’ll provide the best we can to help them.”
To get in touch with AFM North, phone 204-677-7300 or 1-866-291-7774 or visit afm.mb.ca for more information about AFM’s services.
