'It's very scary right now': Bear Clan is finding more drug paraphernalia in public places

More drug paraphernalia is being left on Winnipeg streets, and it's popping up in more public places, the Bear Clan Patrol says.

Bear Clan spokesman James Favel said the group is seeinga "stark rise" in drug paraphernalia found on Winnipeg streets, showing up near schools, high-traffic areas and community gathering places.

"It used to be under the bridges, in the industrial area, in the back corners kind of thing, in the hideaway areas where people can be alone," he said.

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"This summer we've taken 19 bags of methamphetamine off the street from people carelessly dropping them on the sidewalk and things like that," he said. "We find them in the open, in daylight, where kids are playing and things like that."

Favel said the group has found used syringes on boulevards outside William WhyteSchool, as well as a pair of loaded syringes on the ground at the bell toweron Selkirk Avenue and Powers Street, at a public event attended by nearly 200 parents and kids.

"It's very scary right now. I've never seen this much IV drug use," he said."It's destroying lives, destroying people."

'Definitely concerning'

Jon Olafson, a student services consultant withthe Winnipeg School Division said it's uncommon to find drug equipment on school grounds, but it does happen in some communities. Finds range from needles and pipes to prescription pills, he said.

"Sometimes it can be shocking for folks to hear that, but sometimes when you see that on a regular basis, or it's part of the community, you stop being shocked and simply schools and the division takes action," he said.

Olafson said such finds are "definitely concerning" to the division, as well as the parents, teachers and staff at schools.

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He said the division has custodians who check school grounds every morning before kids show up, and instructs children who find drug equipment to leave it alone and tell an adult.

"It's something that we do take a prevention approach to, so we do have a lot of conversations about safety in the school setting," he said."(We have)lots of programs in the division related to empathy and communication, but also some awareness around substance abuse, prevention and reducing some of those risk factors."

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Olafson said the division is working with police on safe schools initiatives, andhas nine school resource officers offering support to parents, students, teachers and staff.

Education on drugs starts in kindergarten when kids are taught about harmful versus helpful substances found in the home, he said,and carries through all the way to Grade 12 when teens learn aboutprevention and substance abuse.