Massive spike in meth seized by Brandon police in 2024

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New numbers from the Brandon Police (BPS) show a significant surge in the amount of meth taken off the streets in Brandon in 2024 compared to the previous year.

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Information sent to The Winnipeg Sun by BPS spokesperson Janet Reichert shows that Brandon police seized a total of 1,614.43 grams of methamphetamine in 2023 and that number jumped to 105,099 grams in 2024.

In total, BPS says they removed 128,630 grams of illicit drugs from the streets in 2024 in Brandon, a city of approximately 51,000 residents.

Those seizures include 9,087 grams of fentanyl which can be harmful or fatal in even small doses, is often mixed with other drugs and caused overdose deaths in Manitoba in recent years.

Last year’s drug busts by BPS include a May traffic stop that resulted in the seizure of approximately $800,000 worth of crystal meth from a commercial truck that was travelling on the Trans-Canada Highway. The driver, who was from Ontario, was arrested and charged with trafficking.

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“The 2024 numbers are substantially higher due to a Trans-Canada Highway traffic stop that was within city limits that brought in a one-time seizure of 100 kilograms of meth,” Reichert said.

BPS added they made a total of 35 arrests for the trafficking of methamphetamine in 2024 that resulted in charges, while there were a total of 21 meth trafficking arrests that led to charges in 2023.

Reichert said the massive rise in grams of seized in a single year can be attributed to some large-scale drug busts last year, but also to what she said was an increased focus of police in Brandon in 2024 in getting drugs off the streets which she said will continue in 2025.

“Removing dangerous drugs from the streets of Brandon is crucial for public safety, as it helps reduce crime, protect individuals from addiction and overdose, and creates a safer and healthier community for everyone,” Reichert said in an email.

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BPS said that in 2024 there were a total of 60 drug overdoses reported throughout the city, with multiple cases resulting in fatalities.

“The effects of meth on our community are significant, and the collaborative efforts of law enforcement, health-care professionals, and community organizations are truly making a positive impact,” Reichert said. “Looking ahead, BPS is more determined than ever to continue working together to protect our families, our neighbourhoods and our future.”

While speaking to the Brandon Police Board (BPS) last month, BPS Chief of Police Tyler Bates said police were becoming increasingly concerned about an increase in toxic and possibly lethal drugs circulating in the city, and the harm those drugs can cause when they are available on the streets.

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“There is a drug supply that is exceptionally dangerous right now,” Bates said while speaking at a Dec. 13 Brandon Police Board meeting.

“It’s an ongoing concern and I highlighted this the last time as well. I would say that certainly we have not seen an improvement with respect to the particular issue, so much so that I felt the need to put out an alert to the community and to the public with respect to what is a pattern of increasing toxicity and drug deaths in the last couple of years.”

According to Bates, the city of Brandon saw three toxic drug deaths in 2022. That number rose to five deaths in 2023, and Bates said there had, as of mid-December, been seven toxic drug deaths in Brandon in 2024.

“So that’s an alarming pattern,” Bates said. “It speaks to an increase in lethality.”

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Concerns were also raised in Brandon back in September about the drugs that have been circulating, as on Sept. 13 the Brandon chapter of the Manitoba Harm Reduction Network (MHRN) posted a notice on their social media that a substance sold in Brandon that the buyer believed was methamphetamine contained 21% fentanyl.

“That’s just the reality of the state we are in right now; we just have a toxic supply of drugs,” Brandon MHRN coordinator Solange Machado said in a September interview.

“There is a lot of stuff going around that is making people sick, and there are more and more potent drugs that people maybe aren’t used to.”

— Dave Baxter is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter who works out of the Winnipeg Sun. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.

Have thoughts on what’s going on in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada or across the world? Send us a letter to the editor at wpgsun.letters@kleinmedia.ca

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