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![\"MIKAELA](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/4153679_web1_3779849_web1_251117-Sobering-centre-0260.jpeg\")
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MIKAELA MACKENZIE \/ FREE PRESS FILES<\/p>\n
A room inside the Disraeli Freeway detox facility.<\/p>\n
As it stands now, the legislation allows someone who appears intoxicated to be held for 24 hours at a \u201cdetention location,\u201d and then held for up to 72 additional hours at a \u201cpreventative care centre.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last fall, the NDP government established such a facility when it opened a 20-bed detox centre at 190 Disraeli Fwy. for those under the influence of alcohol; starting in March, the government started allowing the facility to accept patients suffering from suspected drug-induced intoxication and psychosis.<\/p>\n
Premier Wab Kinew has repeatedly referred to it as a \u201cdrunk tank for people that are high on drugs.\u201d He said it was designed to take the most volatile patients suffering from a drug reaction out of hospital emergency rooms and off the street as quickly and safely as possible.<\/p>\n
Health officials have said that anyone believed to be intoxicated by drugs should be assessed by an emergency-room physician and if it\u2019s deemed appropriate, they can be transferred to the protective care\/detox centre. There, it\u2019s expected patients will be subject to regular monitoring, and reassessed by medical staff after 24 and 48 hours.<\/p>\n
Simm, who has more than 25 years of clinical experience and spent two years as Manitoba\u2019s top psychiatrist, said the criteria for admission to the detox centre is too subjective and does not account for the fact that initially, meth-induced psychosis is \u201cindistinguishable\u201d from schizophrenia or other acute mental illness. Although psychosis triggered by drugs can look very similar to an acute mental-health crisis, they require different treatment, he added.<\/p>\n
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Simm also said the law, as written, is very vague about how patients could be admitted to the preventative care facility. There is nothing in the law, Simm said, that would preclude a police officer from bypassing a hospital and taking someone directly to the detox centre. The law is also vague about what kind of health-care staff will be responsible for monitoring patients at the centre.<\/p>\n
In general, Simm said, involuntary detention is not considered a best practice for helping someone addicted to drugs. He said recent research has shown periods of short, involuntary detox does little to reduce drug addiction and may make overdoses more likely when the person is eventually released.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s a little bit of blustering by the government to make them look like they\u2019re getting tough on crime. The better option, I think, would be to build more, proper, psychiatric wards that offer a full spectrum of treatment that could manage different levels of behaviour,\u201d Simm said. \u201cSeclusion is a very last resort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Contacted Sunday, a spokesman for the NDP government said it could not comment until it had studied Simm\u2019s legal challenge.<\/p>\n
dan.lett@freepress.mb.ca<\/p>\n
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Dan Lett Dan Lett is a columnist for the Free Press, providing opinion and commentary on politics in Winnipeg and beyond. Born and raised in Toronto, Dan joined the Free Press in 1986.\u00a0 Read more about Dan<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dan\u2019s columns are built on facts and reactions, but offer his personal views through arguments and analysis. The Free Press\u2019 editing team reviews Dan\u2019s columns before they are posted online or published in print \u2014 part of the our\u00a0tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press\u2019s history and mandate<\/a>, and learn how our newsroom operates<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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