Toxic drugs blamed for 'cascade' of overdoses within 45 minutes in downtown Winnipeg
Overdoses happened near proposed location of Manitoba's 1st supervised drug consumption site
A handful of Sunshine House resource staff and paramedics faced a chaotic situation in downtown Winnipeg on Sunday afternoon, when 10 people experienced overdoses within a 45-minute span due to toxic drugs.
It all started just after 2 p.m. near the corner of Main Street and Logan Avenue, where Sunshine House's Mobile Overdose Prevention Site — a converted RV — was working, said executive director Levi Foy.
"One community member was experiencing an overdose and as they [MOPS staff] were finishing up there, another person went down almost immediately," he said.
Staff called 911 and by the time the emergency medical crews arrived, another person went down, "and then it was just a cascade from there, one after another," Foy told CBC Manitoba Information Radio host Marcy Markusa on Wednesday.
"We had five right on our site, and then there was others within a one-to-two-block vicinity."
There were five MOPS staff and three community peers — people who have used drugs or currently use them, and act as liaisons for Sunshine House.
"We were kind of the first responders for most of them, and then the paramedics would be able to jump in after we were able to get people into a recovery position," Foy said.
A couple of other Sunshine House staff members were alerted through group chats to what was unfolding and rushed over on their day off to jump in and help, he said.
The situation wrapped up just before 3 p.m. without a single person dying or even requiring transport to hospital, Foy said.
"Everyone did their best to kind of contain the disaster that was unfolding. The community really came together and [Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service] came together to ensure that it wasn't causing any additional stresses on [the city's health] systems," he said.
"If our team wasn't there and if the paramedics weren't able to show up in a timely fashion … we'd be looking at outcomes probably never before seen in an overdose prevention site or a supervised consumption site in Canada. That would be potentially death."
Foy said it's "very rare" for MOPS staff to see 10 overdoses in a month, never mind in less than an hour. An atypical day would be anything more than two overdose events, he said.
"We know that some of our partners in the neighbourhood will see these types of multiple events maybe … over a day or over a specific shift time, but not 45 minutes."
The MOPS staff were able to test a few of the drug samples on site using a machine that analyzes their chemical makeup and they contained a powder substance known as brown down, due to the colour it produces.
Pink down and purple down — mixtures that often contain an opioid and a depressant (downer) like benzodiazepine — have been blamed in other toxic drugs found in the city in past years.
"The substance that's commonly labelled as down is a very difficult substance to work with, because it's often just a concoction of different downer-type substances," Foy said.
"We don't really know fully what's in it, because it's not a substance that's produced in the same way that other substances are. We're just trying to figure it out."
Sunday's incident happened about 300 metres from where Manitoba's first supervised drug consumption site is proposed to go, at 200 Disraeli Fwy.
Bernadette Smith, the provincial minister responsible for housing, addictions and homelessness, says Sunday's slew of overdoses speaks to the need for such a facility.
"When we hear 10 overdoses … within a span of 45 minutes, and the mobile overdose prevention site was overwhelmed to the point where other services had to be brought in, that speaks to the need [for a supervised consumption site]," she said Wednesday.
No date has been set for the opening, nor has a final decision been made on the location. The provincial government is currently holding consultations on the proposal. The application process through Health Canada could take up to two years, Smith has said.
When asked about the possibility of adding a second mobile overdose prevention site for the time being, Smith said the province is focused on consultations for the proposed permanent site and ensuring feedback is provided to Health Canada as quickly as possible.
"It saves lives. It connects people to care," she said of the proposed site. "It will have pathways so people can get into recovery and treatment and get their mental health needs met."
Foy said he is extremely concerned about the outcome if more events like Sunday occur and a consumption centre hasn't yet opened.
"In those spaces, they can do things that our team isn't capable of doing in an RV," he said.
"Within that facility, there will be built-in health-care providers and there'll be more kinds of supports available for individuals if they experience this type of event, and there'll be followups available right there and right on the site that we can't necessarily do in a parking lot."
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With files from Josh Crabb