Drop in overdose deaths warrants caution, action

For the first time in five years, there has been some positive news coming out of Manitoba’s drug overdose crisis.

According to preliminary data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, 203 suspected overdose deaths were recorded between Jan. 1 and June 30, 2025 — down sharply from 307 during the same period last year.

It’s the lowest mid-year total since 2021, when 183 suspected deaths were reported between January and June.

There were a record 570 suspected drug-related deaths for all of 2024.

This year’s progress is worth noting. After years of devastating loss, it appears some of the harm-reduction and treatment measures underway in Manitoba may be working … or not.

In an email to our sister paper, the Winnipeg Free Press, Stephanie Holfeld, executive director of the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said that with the drop in the number of drug-related deaths, Manitoba is showing the same trend observed across most Canadian provinces and U.S. jurisdictions over the last year.

The problem she raises, however, is that the reasons for the drop in drug-related deaths is unclear. And it also may be short-lived.

“The underlying causes remain poorly understood,” she wrote. “Although the recent reduction in fatalities is an encouraging short-term development, the ongoing risk of new, highly toxic substances entering the drug supply continues to pose a significant threat and could lead to another rise in mortality.

Nevertheless, the decrease follows at least five consecutive year-over-year increases. We would like to believe that the work being undertaken by the province and communities across the province are, at least in part, responsible for the decrease.

The wider availability of naloxone kits — which can reverse opioid overdoses — has undoubtedly saved lives. Increased awareness about the dangers of fentanyl and the toxic drug supply may also be helping. Expanded treatment programs have made it possible for more people to access the help they need.

The province has also added more Rapid Access to Addiction Medicine Clinics, with another one planned in downtown Winnipeg at the former Portage Place mall. The one in Brandon has been operating out of the 7th Street Health Access Centre since 2018.

But even with this encouraging dip, the province remains in the midst of a serious public health emergency. Two hundred and three suspected deaths in six months still represent 203 families shattered by preventable tragedy.

As Holfeld said, caution is warranted.

Overdose statistics can fluctuate for reasons that are not fully understood — from shifts in the local drug supply to temporary disruptions in trafficking routes. A six-month decline, while welcome, may not indicate a lasting trend.

That’s why now is not the time to declare victory. It’s time to double down.

The provincial NDP government has taken some positive steps since taking office in 2023 — expanding addiction treatment capacity, increasing access to mental health supports and emphasizing harm reduction.

For Winnipeg, one controversial promise remains unfilled: the creation of Manitoba’s first supervised drug consumption site. More than two years after Premier Wab Kinew pledged to open one, there’s still no announced location or timeline.

Supervised consumption sites save lives. They provide users a safe space to use drugs under medical supervision, drastically reducing the risk of fatal overdose. They also connect people to treatment and social services, helping move them toward recovery.

While the province has decided that Brandon is not in line for a supervised drug consumption site, it is becoming clear that the province needs to step up with more and better mental health and addiction supports for the region.

Earlier this fall, the Brandon Police Service called for a dedicated mental health hospital or recovery centre to be built in this city — one of the proposed actions coming out of BPS’s Downtown Public Safety Strategy.

Quite frankly, the concentration of services in Winnipeg does not address the growing need here in western Manitoba.

If this recent decline in overdose deaths is to mean anything, it must serve as a foundation for real, sustained change.

It means ensuring naloxone kits remain widely available. It means increasing public education about the toxic drug supply and supporting front-line organizations that meet people where they are, without judgment.

It also means tackling the root causes of addiction — poverty, trauma, mental illness and social isolation — with the same urgency we bring to treating its symptoms.

The Kinew government has shown compassion and pragmatism on this file, but good intentions must translate into action. Manitoba has an opportunity to build on this fragile improvement and turn a short-term decline into a long-term reduction in preventable deaths.

The alternative — to wait, to study, to delay — is to risk losing the momentum and falling back into the deadly patterns of recent years.

Hope alone won’t end this crisis. Action will. And we need more of it across the province.

» Winnipeg Free Press and The Brandon Sun