{"id":617397,"date":"2026-04-20T21:52:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:52:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617397\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T21:52:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T21:52:10","slug":"manitobas-former-chief-psychiatrist-applies-for-court-challenge-of-detention-law-winnipeg-free-press","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/617397\/","title":{"rendered":"Manitoba\u2019s former chief psychiatrist applies for court challenge of detention law \u2013 Winnipeg Free Press"},"content":{"rendered":"

WINNIPEG \u2013 Manitoba is defending its law allowing 72-hour detention of people high on methamphetamines and other drugs, as its former chief psychiatrist applies for a court challenge.<\/p>\n

Premier Wab Kinew says his government did extensive research and worked with psychiatrists and emergency room doctors to ensure the highest medical standards are in place and Charter rights aren\u2019t violated.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The province passed the law last year to extend the amount of time highly intoxicated people can be detained to 72 hours from 24 hours, in order to deal with the longer-lasting effects of methamphetamines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe soon to be opened protective care centre, also known as a sobering centre, in Winnipeg, Monday, Nov. 17, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/David Lipnowski<\/p>\n

The law has been criticized by community groups and medical professionals who argue that holding people against their will for up to three days criminalizes addiction.<\/p>\n

Dr. James Simm has filed an application in Court of King\u2019s Bench to challenge the law.<\/p>\n

Simm, who served as the province\u2019s chief psychiatrist from 2022 to 2024, argues the legislation violates Charter rights.<\/p>\n

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 20, 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WINNIPEG \u2013 Manitoba is defending its law allowing 72-hour detention of people high on methamphetamines and other drugs,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":617398,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":{"0":"post-617397","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-winnipeg","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-winnipeg"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=617397"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617397\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/617398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}