Kudos for police, calls for more action on meth in Moncton

Frontline service providers in Moncton say recent raids by police point to the growing problem with methamphetamine use in the province, but they say more needs to be done to deal with the issue. 

Police executed five search warrants simultaneously around Moncton and Fredericton on Wednesday. They targeted what RCMP describe as a drug trafficking operation and resulted in the seizure of drugs believed to be methamphetamine and cocaine.

No one has been found guilty of any crimes related to the raids. 

"It's always good to see when you see the supplies being limited, but I think we need to note that's not the only thing that needs to happen within our province," said Lisa Ryan. 

She served as part of YMCA's ReConnect street intervention team before moving to work for the Greater Moncton Homelessness Steering Committee. The committee brings various agencies and levels of government together. 

She said there's a need for more detox, addiction services and mental health care to address the issue. 

Humanity Project founder Charlie Burrell echoed that, saying more affordable housing is required as well.

One location searched was on Dominion Street in Moncton, two blocks from where Humanity Project serves meals and assists the city's less fortunate.

"Methamphetamine has been, without a doubt, the most destructive thing I've seen happen to our community in my entire life," Burrell said. 

Debby Warren with Ensemble Moncton has called the rise of meth use in the province a health crisis. 

A survey last fall by the New Brunswick Community Alliance suggested crystal methamphetamine has increased in popularity in the province. Interviews were done with 72 people who use needle exchanges in Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton and Miramichi.

In Miramichi, eight of 12 people in the survey mentioned the influx of crystal meth as the biggest change they had seen. In Moncton, it was 11 of 20, while in Fredericton it was 15 of 20. 

In Saint John, 13 of 20 respondents said people were moving from smoking crack cocaine to injecting cocaine.

Ensemble, formerly AIDS Moncton, operates the needle exchange in Moncton that provides clean syringes for free to intravenous drug users to reduce the spread and harm from HIV, hepatitis C and other infections.

Program use jumped 95 per cent over the last two fiscal years alongside an 25 per cent increase in individuals using the service. The program distributed 379,185 syringes between April 1, 2018, and March 31, 2019, up from 193,794 the year before.

Warren is part of a group working on establishing an overdose prevention site in Moncton. 

"We need decision-makers to step up and look at this situation and what it's doing to our community," Warren told CBC News in April.