Manitoba Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen says it will take a joint provincial-national strategy to deal with the growing problem of opioid addiction. Goertzen will be in Ottawa Friday for a national opioid conference and summit. The issue has intensified in recent years due to the increasing presence of drugs like fentanyl and the rising number of deaths due to overdoses. Goertzen says it's very important that Ottawa and the provinces combine their efforts.

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Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen"There are certainly things we can do on a provincial level. Some of that is education, some of it is making sure we have the right kinds of treatment for people who are dealing with opioid addiction and, of course, some of it is enforcement. But there is a national scope to this as well. Some of the opioid problem has to do with legal prescriptions and maybe over-prescribing but there's also some of it that's coming from other countries, China for example. So, that needs a national lens. The restriction of pill presses would be something that would be looked at with a national lens so it really does take a provincial and a national lens."

Goertzen says this won't be an easy fix because addiction is very complicated.

"I don't pretend that we're going to be able to legislate addictions away. But there are things that we can do provincially and we can do nationally that I think would make it better, ensuring that people have the services that they need, ensuring that we are trying to restrict the importation of these dangerous drugs."

Goertzen adds Canada also needs a uniform reporting system for overdoses so health ministers can get an accurate perspective on the problem and the drugs involved so they can develop an informed solution. He says a national strategy on opioid addiction will be a benefit to Steinbach and all Manitoba communities.

"No community is immune to it. I think that the people of Steinbach understand that, that we have a wonderful community, we have a wonderful region but that doesn't mean we don't have challenges and issues. We do and we can't turn a blind eye to that and we can't pretend that those challenges don't exist. We will be affected by opiates and fentanyl just like other areas are impacted. So, any efforts that we make nationally and provincially, to help generally, will help our region as well."