Drug trafficking problem is on a rise in Canada for the last couple of years. Winnipeg authorities started a full-scale investigation into the city`s meth problem. As per Winnipeg Police, there is a spike in meth-related crime incidents, like property theft, residential break-ins, unreasonable anger towards each other (meth users) and other people around them, violent attacks, some ending up in lethal outcomes for victims.
Opioid use continues to be a public-health crisis with just under 4,000 deaths across Canada in 2017 and over 3,000 in 2016.
North End resident Bonnie Thompson wrote a letter to Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman, calling on the city to do more to crack down on the open sale of drugs in community gathering places.
Thompson doesn’t use drugs but said she’s been frequently approached by sellers asking if she wants to buy pills. She said it’s happened to her in the North End, West End and downtown Winnipeg.
During the past 50 days, the Winnipeg Police Department for Drug Enforcement and the Street Crime Unit have conducted several raids against middle-level drug dealers, focusing on the illicit trade in methamphetamine, cocaine, and heroin.
Thompson said it makes her feel anxious and unsafe when someone comes up to her trying to sell drugs.
Bowman said Tuesday he’s aware of Thompson’s letter and shares her concerns. The mayor pointed to the Winnipeg Police Service’s Illicit Drug Strategy and the newly launched Illicit Drug Task Force – a partnership between the federal government, province and city to crack down on illegal drugs – as a way of fighting the open sale of drugs Thompson is concerned about.
Unfortunately meth and other drug trafficking is a rising problem in Manitoba and Canada overall, hopefully, police and local authorities will really concentrate on dedicating the funds and resolving this issue.
All of the recent statistics and police reports show that drugs of any kind are a big and constantly growing problem in Canada. Even though local police, provincial and government agencies put up a fight, work hard, dedicate a lot of manpower and recourses to fight the drug trafficking crime in our country, it is just not enough! Some big changes need to be done on a national level to change this and make our society safe for all of us, especially our children and young teenagers.