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Massive Prairie meth bust likely to lead to other problems, activist warns

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Outreach workers will be watching to see the impact on the streets after the largest in Prairie history of 406 kilograms of meth, the equivalent to roughly four million illicit doses of the drug.

The truck driver, 29-year-old Komalpreet Sidhu from Winnipeg, will appear in court Thursday. He has been charged with importing methamphetamine and possession for the purpose of trafficking.

The Canada Border Services Agency discovered the drugs in a semi-trailer at the southwestern Manitoba-North Dakota border station at Boissevain on Jan 14, a seizure the police called 鈥渆xtraordinary.鈥

Police say the drugs, trafficked from the United States, were bound for Winnipeg with a street value worth more than $50 million.

鈥淲ill this make a dent? We don鈥檛 know.鈥 Mitch Bourbonniere, with Winnipeg鈥檚 Downtown Community Safety Partnership, told 愛污传媒.

鈥淚 think for every seizure, even as big as this one, there are so much more drugs coming in.鈥

On the streets of Winnipeg, is still one of the most commonly used drugs, along with opioids, like fentanyl.

鈥楾rickle down to street level鈥

In Western Manitoba, the Brandon Police Service made another large of fentanyl on Jan. 25, worth an estimated $1 million.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 meth on one side, fentanyl on the other. How that鈥檚 going to trickle down to street level is yet to be determined.鈥 Bourbonniere said, adding less accessibility to meth may lead users to turn to pharmaceuticals or alcohol and solvents.

Meth is a highly addictive stimulant which can lead to severe health problems, including rapid heart rate and increased blood pressure. Long term, users can experience psychosis, leading to violent behaviour, hallucinations, delusions or paranoia.

A 2020 University of Manitoba study found over the last decade has been rising in Manitoba, leading to a sevenfold increase in Winnipeg emergency room visits.

Insp. Joe Telus, with RCMP federal policing, said the seized drugs were likely to be sold beyond Manitoba.

鈥淭he origin and size of the shipment leads us to believe this involved organized crime at a local, national and international level,鈥 Telus told a news conference on Wednesday, 鈥淲hile destined for Winnipeg we also believe (the drugs) would鈥檝e been distributed across Manitoba and possibly to locations across Western Canada and into Ontario.鈥

While police and border officials work to find the drugs, Bourbonniere says all levels of government need to be more involved in finding solutions to help those who are addicted and struggling.

鈥淲e need to support people who do have addiction in terms of finding a different way. Treatment, rapid-access to treatment, housing, all of these things intersect鈥nd I don鈥檛 feel like we are keeping up at all.鈥  

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