Less talk, more action on meth crisis, say mother who lost son to fentanyl overdose

A Manitoba mother who lost her son to a fentanyl overdose in 2014 has penned an open letter to Premier Brian Pallister, asking his government to stop politicking and start tackling the province’s meth crisis.

Arlene Last-Kolb’s 24-year-old son Jessie died on July 18, 2014. Since then, she’s worked to help spare others from the loss she endured while trying to help governments at all levels implement better — and quicker — plans to tackle the province’s burgeoning drug problem.

“We’ve been asking for the same thing for five years,” Last-Kolb said on Wednesday. “I don’t think we need to brainstorm anymore. I don’t think we need another group or task force. I’ve been on all of those committees, and we’re no closer to the treatment part than we were five years ago.”

In the letter, which Last-Kolb said she’s dispersed to the media, she tells Pallister that the five Rapid Access Clinics in the province aren’t built to handle the meth crisis, and said the Virgo report, which was released last year, only mentions meth a few dozen times in its 255 pages.

“I’m asking you to be more actively involved in what is happening in our province,” Last-Kolb wrote in her letter.

On Wednesday, the province said they’ve announced a number of initiatives in recent months to combat the rising levels of drug use in our communities, including methamphetamine.

At the end of December, the province, along with the city and the federal government, established an illicit drug task force. A report is expected in June.

The province said they have also issued a tender for more flexible length withdrawal management and recovery beds, mobile support services, while adding mental health beds and women’s treatment beds at Health Sciences Centre and the Addictions Foundation of Manitoba.

“We will continue to bring forward initiatives to address the devastating effect meth and other drugs have had on our communities in the days, weeks and months ahead,” a government spokesperson said in an email.

Last-Kolb said experts across the province already know exactly what needs to be done and that no more task forces are needed.

“We’re not having any leadership,” she said. “This is a crisis in our province and we need to know that he cares. Why do we have to wait for one more committee meeting or one more group to tell us the exact same thing?

“Meanwhile, people are dying, people are overdosing. There’s nowhere to go.”

sbilleck@postmedia.com

Twitter: @scottbilleck