![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Supervised-consumption-site-e1773696974722.jpg\")
\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\nOn the anniversary of his son\u2019s fentanyl overdose, a local advocate speaks out against supervised consumption sites.<\/p>\n
Joseph Fourre, founder of Singing Red Bear Foundation, lost his son Harlan three years ago to a fentanyl overdose.<\/p>\n
Since then, Fourre has dedicated his life to advocate against substance abuse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s never easier,\u201d Fourre said on the third anniversary of Harlan\u2019s death. \u201cThrough the Singing red bear foundation and the \u2018No thanks I\u2019m good campaign\u2019 and going out and talking to the youth, it brings solace.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd it we can save just one young person, his death was not in vain,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
Fourre has been in recovery for several years and advocating against supervised consumption sites, a system he has firsthand experience with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was addicted; I used supervised consumption sites. I lived next to one in Edmonton. And what I saw repeatedly was that people did not travel far after they purchased drugs. They used near by,\u201d Fourre said.<\/p>\n
He believes that the answer to solving Manitoba\u2019s ongoing drug problem is by focusing on a recovery plan for those with addiction.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cI spoke with a young lady who just got out of the hospital because she overdosed. And she\u2019s back because she\u2019s got no place else to go. What we need is a real plan. A real recovery plan that will give people a way out,\u201d said Fourre.<\/p>\n
One longtime resident of the North Logan community is concerned with the location of the supervised consumption site and worries about a nearby playground.<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHow can that be 100 metres from that site. It doesn\u2019t make sense to me. I raised kids here.\u00a0 My daughter was born barely 200 meters from there. Today it took me a hard time to raise kids in the community. And that\u2019s what we have to give kids a good opportunity and a good example,\u201d said Isidro Zapata, North Logan resident.<\/p>\n
In a statement to CityNews, Bernadette Smith, Manitoba\u2019s minister of housing, addictions and homelessness, said, \u201cManitobans were clear when they elected our government that opening a supervised consumption site to prevent people from dying of overdoses is a priority. We are committed to that work, and we are committed to getting it right.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, Fourre continues to advocate for recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust remove the stigma. Don\u2019t think of them as dirty or whatever. Just have that love compassion and empathy,\u201d Fourre said.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\tThe site of a future supervised consumption location at 366 Henry Avenue in Winnipeg. (CityNews) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"On the anniversary of his son\u2019s fentanyl overdose, a local advocate speaks out against supervised consumption sites. Joseph…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541055,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-622682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622682","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=622682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/622682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=622682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=622682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=622682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}