Discussions

Methadone is a treatment for opioid addiction. What you are finding are needles to shoot methamphetamine (crystal meth)  
 
You need to join the fight to rally the local and provincial gov’t for treatment centres, detox unit and resources. Until we have some effective resources in place the problem is just beginning. Our city and Westman is in crisis.

Police can''t really be expected to respond to every needle call unless you find a significant amount of drugs.  
 
This is a community problem. I do feel if there is a clean needle dispensary they need to be held accountable for the needles they are giving out: and ensuring the previous needles return in a container before handing out more.  
 
 
My advice is get some sharps containers gloves and a pair of tongs and be very careful. Help out if you can but do it safely.  
 
Edited by Serious, 2018-04-25 18:03:40

Any Google image search will tell you that Crystal meth is clear...  
 
This is clearly methadone

Methadone is generally dispensed at AFM because it TREATS addiction. It is not used on the street in discarded needles.  
Meth is not always clear.  
 
I implore you to bring this to gov’t attention if you are concerned.

But the problem is poorly discarded needles.  
 
I don't care so much what's in the needle (other than a way of adding more controls to distribution if it were perscribed). I care what infectious diseases are on the needle and who it could potentially infect.  
 
These people who are using these needles are clearly irresponsible and need to be held accountable. I offered a simple solution above for clean needle dispensaries above.  
 
Edited by Serious, 2018-04-25 18:15:25

I personally feel that a supervised injection site would be a good step in the right direction. It would help to reduce needles on the streets and prevent incidents of overdoses. Until the day come that there are more treatment facilities and well funded long term aftercare programs to prevent relapses the best we can hope for is a strong community based harm reduction movement.

But perhaps the red you see, is blood left over from the injection, I agree that this problem is getting out of control, and has to be addressed, please be careful handling them.

Robert D. Brown said "I personally feel that a supervised injection site would be a good step in the right direction. It would help to reduce needles on the streets and prevent incidents of overdoses. Until the day come that there are more treatment facilities and well funded long term aftercare programs to prevent relapses the best we can hope for is a strong community based harm reduction movement. "

Well said!

Left in the syringe if it crystal meth

Trapper85 said "But perhaps the red you see, is blood left over from the injection, I agree that this problem is getting out of control, and has to be addressed, please be careful handling them. "

I have seen a rusted appearance on the outside and blood streaks inside: but I have also picked up a 30 Ml syringe of red liquid.

please take the time to inform & educate yourself about "dirty" needles. The below quote is from the CBC article here: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/brandon-bear-clan-downtown-needles-1.4625461  
 
[i]"He said each police vehicle is also equipped with a sharps container, but officers may not always be able to come and pick up a needle as quickly as someone would like.  
 
"If someone is not comfortable handling a found needle, they can contact BPS.… However, depending on priority calls for service there could potentially be a wait for an officer to attend," Andrew said.  
 
He said those who find needles or syringes should wear gloves and, if possible, pick up the needle with a set of tongs or pliers and put it tip down into a sealed container, and either take it to the police station, hospital or the Seventh Street Health Access Centre in Brandon. [/i]

Just so folks know, especially in that downtown area, 7th Street Health Access has a needle disposal. So depending on your comfort level handling those sorts of things, they can be brought there.  
Unfortunately, the meth crisis in Westman is bad, and will likely only get worse.

We live in a new Brandon.  
 
We are raising a new generation of children who will never know what it's like to not have needles strewn around their community.  
 
Meth is a problem in our community. We are a meth community. This is the new norm here.  
 
MB Government isn't going to fix this problem.  
 
Call your Mayor. Call your Councillor. Call you MLA. They are citizens in this community too. Ask them if they are okay letting this community implode on itself on their watch.  
 
They are our elected officials. They need to step up and take accountability and responsibility for what is happening while we've left them in charge.  
 
Find your voice fellow Brandonites.

HoHoHeHo said "We live in a new Brandon.     We are raising a new generation of children who will never know what it's like to not have needles strewn around their community.     Meth is a problem in our community. We are a meth community. This is the new norm here.     MB Government isn't going to fix this problem.     Call your Mayor. Call your Councillor. Call you MLA. They are citizens in this community too. Ask them if they are okay letting this community implode on itself on their watch.     They are our elected officials. They need to step up and take accountability and responsibility for what is happening while we've left them in charge.     Find your voice fellow Brandonites. "

What do you propose our elected officials do exactly?  
 
You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.....  
 
Frankly I am tired of the whining that government needs to address peoples addiction issues.  
 
We've had drug and alcohol addictions in our family too. You either quit or you die, your choice.

Johnbisonbear said "    HoHoHeHo said "We live in a new Brandon.     We are raising a new generation of children who will never know what it's like to not have needles strewn around their community.     Meth is a problem in our community. We are a meth community. This is the new norm here.     MB Government isn't going to fix this problem.     Call your Mayor. Call your Councillor. Call you MLA. They are citizens in this community too. Ask them if they are okay letting this community implode on itself on their watch.     They are our elected officials. They need to step up and take accountability and responsibility for what is happening while we've left them in charge.     Find your voice fellow Brandonites. " What do you propose our elected officials do exactly?     You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.....     Frankly I am tired of the whining that government needs to address peoples addiction issues.     We've had drug and alcohol addictions in our family too. You either quit or you die, your choice. "

We elect people to protect our citizens. Protect our community from harm.  
 
This is bigger than a "get over it attitude" about someone's addiction...drugs, alcohol, gambling, digital, pornography, food.  
 
Our community is slowing and methodically getting taken over by meth. It's not here because of addicts. It's here because drug dealers brought it here. It's remaining here because we lack leadership in this community.  
 
Time for our leaders to find their voices and stand up to the bullies that are taking over our community.  
 
Think about it.

We hire police to protect our community. That's not a politician's job to try and get people to stop their drug use. People make a personal choice, good or bad, to drug themselves. It is also up to them to stop.

HoHoHeHo said "    Johnbisonbear said "    HoHoHeHo said "We live in a new Brandon.     We are raising a new generation of children who will never know what it's like to not have needles strewn around their community.     Meth is a problem in our community. We are a meth community. This is the new norm here.     MB Government isn't going to fix this problem.     Call your Mayor. Call your Councillor. Call you MLA. They are citizens in this community too. Ask them if they are okay letting this community implode on itself on their watch.     They are our elected officials. They need to step up and take accountability and responsibility for what is happening while we've left them in charge.     Find your voice fellow Brandonites. " What do you propose our elected officials do exactly?     You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.....     Frankly I am tired of the whining that government needs to address peoples addiction issues.     We've had drug and alcohol addictions in our family too. You either quit or you die, your choice. " We elect people to protect our citizens. Protect our community from harm.     This is bigger than a "get over it attitude" about someone's addiction...drugs, alcohol, gambling, digital, pornography, food.     Our community is slowing and methodically getting taken over by meth. It's not here because of addicts. It's here because drug dealers brought it here. It's remaining here because we lack leadership in this community.     Time for our leaders to find their voices and stand up to the bullies that are taking over our community.     Think about it. "

Being an elected official involves more than photo ops and event appearances.  
 
You have to take the good with the bad. They wanted the job. They got the job. They need to do the job. ALL of the job, not just the fun parts.  
 
This whats going on right now is the not so fun part of their job. They have a community to protect and they need to get on it.

Johnbisonbear said "We hire police to protect our community. That's not a politician's job to try and get people to stop their drug use. People make a personal choice, good or bad, to drug themselves. It is also up to them to stop. "

if you think that the police are managing the meth problem in this community.  
 
There is a force bigger than the police orchestrating the methodical take down of our community.  
 
In the not too distance future the addicts that you judge will be the least of our communities worries.

Not to bring politics into this. But securing the border to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and up to Canada seems like a smart idea. This drug problem is getting out of hand and local police are not the solution. That's a never ending battle.

Lol if you think trump and the wall will stop the flow of drugs into USA and Canada.  
 
There’s lots of good posts here a clean injection site would be great in Brandon.

Orion's-Belt said "Lol if you think trump and the wall will stop the flow of drugs into USA and Canada.     There’s lots of good posts here a clean injection site would be great in Brandon. "

You laugh, but have no explanation on why it wouldn't work to reduce the flow of drugs. We know Mexico is the primary import country of drugs to the United States. Once it's in the United States it's very easy to smuggle into Canada. Wouldn't locking down the border and using their resources to inspect vehicles and people for illegal contraband combat the illegal imports. The less drugs in the United States the less drugs in Canada.  
 
If your going to shut an idea down, have an explanation as to why. You sound like your an anti-trumper and hate the wall for no reason.  
 
Again, how do you stop people from doing drugs? You cut it off at the source or you stop it from coming into your country.  
 
Having the police play cat and mouse is never going to end. It's a vicious cycle that fills up our jails with low level dealers/users and costs taxpayers $$$$.

HoHoHeHo said "    Johnbisonbear said "    HoHoHeHo said "We live in a new Brandon.     We are raising a new generation of children who will never know what it's like to not have needles strewn around their community.     Meth is a problem in our community. We are a meth community. This is the new norm here.     MB Government isn't going to fix this problem.     Call your Mayor. Call your Councillor. Call you MLA. They are citizens in this community too. Ask them if they are okay letting this community implode on itself on their watch.     They are our elected officials. They need to step up and take accountability and responsibility for what is happening while we've left them in charge.     Find your voice fellow Brandonites. " What do you propose our elected officials do exactly?     You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.....     Frankly I am tired of the whining that government needs to address peoples addiction issues.     We've had drug and alcohol addictions in our family too. You either quit or you die, your choice. " We elect people to protect our citizens. Protect our community from harm.     This is bigger than a "get over it attitude" about someone's addiction...drugs, alcohol, gambling, digital, pornography, food.     Our community is slowing and methodically getting taken over by meth. It's not here because of addicts. It's here because drug dealers brought it here. It's remaining here because we lack leadership in this community.     Time for our leaders to find their voices and stand up to the bullies that are taking over our community.     Think about it. "

"we elect people to protect our citizens. Protect our community from harm".  
 
I'm just pointing out that it is the police that provide protection not our mayor, council or MLAs.

Johnbisonbear said "    HoHoHeHo said "    Johnbisonbear said "    HoHoHeHo said "We live in a new Brandon.     We are raising a new generation of children who will never know what it's like to not have needles strewn around their community.     Meth is a problem in our community. We are a meth community. This is the new norm here.     MB Government isn't going to fix this problem.     Call your Mayor. Call your Councillor. Call you MLA. They are citizens in this community too. Ask them if they are okay letting this community implode on itself on their watch.     They are our elected officials. They need to step up and take accountability and responsibility for what is happening while we've left them in charge.     Find your voice fellow Brandonites. " What do you propose our elected officials do exactly?     You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.....     Frankly I am tired of the whining that government needs to address peoples addiction issues.     We've had drug and alcohol addictions in our family too. You either quit or you die, your choice. " We elect people to protect our citizens. Protect our community from harm.     This is bigger than a "get over it attitude" about someone's addiction...drugs, alcohol, gambling, digital, pornography, food.     Our community is slowing and methodically getting taken over by meth. It's not here because of addicts. It's here because drug dealers brought it here. It's remaining here because we lack leadership in this community.     Time for our leaders to find their voices and stand up to the bullies that are taking over our community.     Think about it. " "we elect people to protect our citizens. Protect our community from harm".     I'm just pointing out that it is the police that provide protection not our mayor, council or MLAs. "

There is nothing elected officials can do. You can call your MLA, town council, prime minister, etc. Sure we can ask the Mayor to have a police officer on every corner of this city walking around with drug dogs. Do you actually think it will cure the problem? Not a chance, might reduce it a bit but the problem will still be there, just hidden more. Every day the paper shows a bust. Our police are doing what they can to do prevention. HOHOHO you make it sound so easy that they need to just stand up to these bullies (drug dealers) and all will be better. Ok, please give the police of the drug dealers so our mayor can find his voice. If you are familiar with the drug world you will know that when there is a drug bust there are usually a few people right behind them to fill the void.

Inmates at two federal prisons who use injection drugs will have access to clean syringes beginning in June, with the Correctional Service of Canada planning to roll out the service at other institutions next year.  
 
So..if Corrections Canada is doing this why isn't our city looking at doing a clean needle exchange program?  
 
 
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/needle-exchanges-coming-to-2-canadian-prisons-1.4662778

Brandon does have a clean needle distribution program already.

just fyi, methadone is given out as an oral medication.  
Very unlikely needles are for methadone. Maybe for methamphetimine (meth).

If it's brown it's most likely heroin.  
 
Like someone else said Methadone is an oral liquid that's not injected. Most people are smoking crystal and if you're injecting it it's clear

one more thing.. said "If it's brown it's most likely heroin.     Like someone else said Methadone is an oral liquid that's not injected. Most people are smoking crystal and if you're injecting it it's clear "

Crystal meth, especially around here, could be quit "dirty" meaning it could be any color. I'm not sure where you heard that most people are smoking crystal meth cause the amount of needles being found and from what I've heard from users is most are injecting it.  
Crystal meth can be made in a pop bottle at home and to think that all of the drug is coming from outside of this country is pretty naïve.

Sure where your getting your info but you can inject it . The safer way would be to swallow it but if they want full impact right away they can inject it.