Petition calls on province to create medically assisted detox facility

A woman whose boyfriend died of a drug overdose while waiting to get into a treatment facility said she hopes a petition will push the provincial government to take action.

"Right now in Manitoba there's very few detox facilities and the ones that [we] do have a very long wait. So people are dying while waiting to get help," said Rebecca Rummery of Overdose Awareness Manitoba.

The group launched a petition calling on the province to create a medically assisted detox facility in Winnipeg— the kind of facility that might have saved the life of her boyfriend, Rob Ashley, who died Jan. 14, 2018.

"I saw through my boyfriend's struggles, that waitlist, that amount of people who were dying while waiting for help," said Rummery.

Most addictions treatment programs require clients to detox before they can begin treatment and having a facility to help people go through that would improve their chances of success, said Rummery.

"A medically assisted detox helps people, they're usually more successful and it helps them more with the process and lowers the risk of relapse," she said.

Copies of the petition have been sent to organizations and businesses across the province, and Rummery said the response so far has been positive.

Rummery started Overdose Awareness Manitoba along with others who have lost loved ones to overdose, including Arlene Last-Kolb, whose 24-year-old son died of a fentanyl overdose in 2014.

"When I left the hospital, there's no support, no nothing. I finally met Arlene at an event that she was hosting, and I just found how important it was to have support."

The petition will run until May 15.