Winnipeg group warns of drug supply dangers after it says 5 people died within 2 weeks

A Winnipeg organization is urging people to get their drugs tested after it says five people connected to its community died after using substances within the last two weeks. 

Four of the people who died were well-known to staff members at Resource Assistance for Youth (RaY), which offers support for young people aged 29 and under, including help with mental health and addictions, executive director Kate Sjoberg said. 

All four were adults under the age of 30, she said. One was only 19. 

A fifth person lived in a Manitoba Housing building the organization serves, Sjoberg said. 

“Each of these people were loved ones inside of their families, to their friends inside of the RaY community,” she said, adding the number of deaths in that short period is very high.

“It’s a moment of tremendous loss … and many people that we serve have already lost people to the drug toxicity crisis. It’s not just the loss of their best friend, it’s a reminder of the other people that they’ve lost previously,” Sjoberg said. 

She said the four people staff knew were regular drug users who had developed systems to reduce risks, including getting their drugs tested and understanding their own dosage levels. 

Kate Sjoberg, executive director of Resource Assistance for Youth, says it is a ‘moment of tremendous loss’ for community members and staff. (Alana Cole/CBC)

But Sjoberg said the local drug supply has become “unpredictable,” which makes it hard for people to rely on established routines.  

“What folks are accessing, they don’t know what’s in it. That’s where the danger really comes,” she said. 

“The problem continues to be really, really dangerous,” Sjoberg said.

Sjoberg said staff have been concerned about medetomidine, a strong animal tranquilizer, showing up in Winnipeg’s drug supply in recent weeks. Street Connections warned last month that people who take the drug may not wake up for a long time and their heart rate could slow significantly. 

Winnipeg group issues warning on toxic drugs

Resource Assistance for Youth is urging people to test their drugs, saying they know of five people who died within the last two weeks after using drugs. The organization is also reminding people who are using drugs to use a low dose to start, to make sure they’re not alone, and have a phone to call for help if needed.

Earlier this week, Street Connections said ethylflualprazolam, a derivative of the depressive drug benzodiazepine, was found in a sample of a multi-coloured powder available within the local supply. 

Unlike opioids, the sedative effects of medetomidine and ethylflualprazolam can’t be reversed by naloxone, the group said. However, Street Connections still recommends administering naloxone, as the substances might be mixed with opioids. 

“The drug supply is poisoned,” Sjoberg said.

“There’s substances being put into drugs that people are used to using that are unexpected and often really unsafe to ingest — and unsafe to the point of mortality.”

Nine Circles Community Health Centre offers drug-checking services three days per week, on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. 

Kim Bailey, the centre’s director of prevention, testing and wellness, says medetomidine has been showing up more frequently in the samples they’ve tested in recent months. She said they have a small sample size of about 10 tests per month. 

“It is starting to show up in most of the down that gets presented here. It is common in the drug supply that we test,” Bailey said.

The street drug down is a mixture of heroin and fentanyl.

Bailey said testing is important to help people make more informed choices. 

“Getting your drugs tested is a way of understanding what’s in your drug supply,” she said.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service data shows crews responded to more than 2,700 substance-used related calls between January and March of this year. Those incidents also include calls for regulated substances such as alcohol and marijuana. 

Over that same period, WFPS officials administered naloxone more than 1,500 times.

In the wake of the deaths, RaY was running a discussion group Wednesday about how participants can keep each other safe, including information about drug testing, naloxone use and checking in on loved ones. 

Sjoberg said people using drugs should start with a low dose, ensure they’re not alone when using and have a phone to call for help, if needed. 

She said there is an immediate need for a safe consumption site and wants people to have access to a safe supply as an alternative to street drugs. 

“It’s really important that we address the drug supply and we make the drug supply safe,” Sjoberg said. 

‘I want to send out my deepest condolences to the families and communities of these five Manitobans that have lost their lives to the toxic drug supply,’ Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith said in a statement Wednesday. (Bryce Hoye/CBC)

Addictions Minister Bernadette Smith shared her “deepest condolences to the families and communities of these five Manitobans that have lost their lives to the toxic drug supply” in a statement sent to CBC News on Wednesday. 

“These aren’t just a statistic, they are someone’s loved ones,” Smith said. 

She said the issue is a “top priority” for the provincial government, pointing to more treatment options, including hundreds of new treatment spaces and expanded rapid access to addiction medicine clinics. 

The minister said the province is distributing more than 63,000 naloxone kits in the 2025-26 fiscal year while supporting the opening of a supervised consumption site.