Manitoba news: Supervised consumption site location planning starting [Video]

WINNIPEG –

The Manitoba government is making progress on its plan to open the province’s first supervised drug consumption site in central Winnipeg.

The government will work with the Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre, which already runs an addiction clinic, and consultations are to begin soon on finding an exact location.

“We’ve looked at other jurisdictions. It is clear that there will be an impact when you open a supervised consumption site in terms of the next few blocks around it,” Premier Wab Kinew said Monday.

“So we need to select the location with that in mind. That means it probably can’t go near a school or a daycare. Are there other areas where maybe we could put a community plan around (it) with foot patrol and collaboration with law enforcement?”

Manitoba is the only province west of New Brunswick without a safe consumption site. The NDP government promised $2.5 million for …