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We acknowledge our office is located on Treaty 1 Territory and that Manitoba is located on the Treaty Territories and ancestral lands of the Anishinaabeg, Anishininewuk, Dakota Oyate, Denesuline and Nehethowuk Nations.
We acknowledge Manitoba is located on the Homeland of the Red River Métis.
We acknowledge northern Manitoba includes lands that were and are the ancestral lands of the Inuit.
We respect the spirit and intent of Treaties and Treaty Making and remain committed to working in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis people in the spirit of truth, reconciliation and collaboration.
This interactive report, provides the currently available information on substance use and related harms in Manitoba. Five key indicators are summarized in this report: Substance-related deaths (SRDs), Substance-related hospital admissions, Substance-related emergency department (ED) visits, Suspected overdose events attended by Winnipeg Fire & Paramedics Service (WFPS) and Take-Home Naloxone Kit (THNK) distribution. This dashboard will be updated mid-month at the beginning of each quarter (Jan, Apr, Jul, Oct), and will include data up to the end of the preceding quarter (where available) from the following four data sources:
Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME).
Hospital Data - Two Sources.
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) - Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service (WFPS) Data
Take-Home Naloxone (THN) Kit distribution data
*Substance-related death data is subject to change as more information becomes available. This may mean that the most recent data may be underrepresented.
Quarters are defined by calendar quarters. I.e. Q1: Jan - Mar, Q2: Apr - Jun, Q3: Jul - Sep, Q4: Oct - Dec.
*Confirmed fatality counts (bars) are based on the left axis, while crude rates (line graph) are based on the right axis.
Definition: Substance-related deaths are deaths
due entirely, or at least in part, to the toxic effects of one or more
substances, including alcohols. A death is considered opioid related if
at least one of the substances contributing to causing death is an
opioid. It is important to note that deaths due to the effects of
chronic substance abuse, or deaths due to other causes where substance
intoxication may have circumstantially contributed (i.e., drunk driving,
hypothermia, drownings), are excluded from this case definition.
Substance-related deaths Key
observations:
- Stimulants are the leading substance causing death in Manitoba.
Methamphetamine and Cocaine contributed to over 80% of the total deaths
from June to August 2024.
- Manitoba experiences a higher proportion of substance-related deaths
among females when compared to the Canadian average.
- The vast majority of substance-related deaths have multiple substances
present at the time of death.
- For further information on Manitoba in comparison to Canada, please
see: Key
findings: Opioid- and Stimulant-related Harms in Canada —
Canada.ca
The trend of co-involvement of multiple substances in the deaths
reported in Q1 and Q2 of 2024 also continued in Q3. Similarly,
stimulants, largely methamphetamine and cocaine, contributed the largest
proportion of the 128 deaths reported for Q3 (103, 80.5%), while
benzodiazepines contributed the least (54, 42.2%). A broader overview of
drug-related deaths in the past three years (January 2022-October 2024)
shows that, while the annual total number of deaths has been increasing,
the increase appears to be mostly driven by stimulants. Based on
currently available data for 2024, a 46% increase in drug-related deaths
is projected by December 2024 compared to January 2022. However, while
the number of deaths involving opioids alone or in combination with
substances other than stimulants has remained largely stable over this
period, the number of deaths that involved stimulants is on course to
cause a 51% increase in the deaths over the same period.
Note that holding points are not necessarily the final point of distribution of the take-home naloxone kits. Also, a person from one RHA may obtain a kit from another RHA, so this is not a fully accurate picture of where each take-home naloxone kit is eventually kept and/or used.
DAD: Discharge Abstracts Database
ED: Emergency Department
EDIS: Emergency Department Information System
EMS: Emergency Medical Services
OCME: Office of the Chief Medical Examiner
PHIMS: Public Health Information Management System
Q1-Q4: Quarters one through four, as defined by calendar quarters. I.e. Q1: Jan - Mar, Q2: Apr - Jun, Q3: Jul - Sep, Q4: Oct - Dec.
THN: Take-Home Naloxone
WFPS: Winnipeg Fire and Paramedic Service
Hospital and ED related substance diagnoses are categorized using the International Classification of Diseases 10th revision (ICD-10) diagnoses codes. These are:
