Police issue alert after drug deaths
Four deaths in three days blamed on spread of powerful opioid fentanyl
Toronto police have issued a public safety alert after four deaths, likely caused by fentanyl overdose, in the past three days in downtown Toronto
Police said there have been four fatalities and 20 overdose incidents since Thursday.
The most recent incident was on Saturday when a woman was found dead in a stairwell near Queen St. E. and Trefann St.
A 27-year-old man died on Thursday in the area of Queen St. W. and Bathurst St., where he allegedly overdosed on heroin laced with fentanyl, a powerful opioid that’s about 50 times stronger than heroin.
Police said they believed the substance was bought in the area of Yonge St. and Dundas St.
“It’s definitely worrisome to see these clusters of overdose deaths in Toronto, and I think we will see even more,” said Tara Gomes, epidemiologist and principal investigator of the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN). Another man was found Friday without vital signs near Bathurst St. and Dundas St. W. He was taken to hospital where he was pronounced dead. Police say his death might have been due to a fentanyl overdose.
“We continue to be extremely concerned about the number of people we are losing to overdoses,” Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health, told the Star in an email.
“These deaths are preventable and this issue is having a devastating im- pact on individuals, families and communities.”
Toronto’s Overdose Action Plan, launched in March, provides a list of actions the city will be taking on, including the launch of supervised injection sites this fall.
In Ontario, 734 people died of opioid-related causes in 2015, according to a report by researchers with the ODPRN, St. Michael’s Hospital and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences.
Gomes, who is also a scientist at St. Michael’s Hospital, said the most effective ways to respond to the increase of fentanyl contamination includes increased access to supervised injection sites and naloxone kits.
Naloxone, a drug that can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, is available across Toronto.
Despite Toronto police’s public safety alert, there is still no urgency in equipping officers with naloxone.
“As far as right now, officers are not equipped with naloxone and I haven’t been made aware of any plans for that,” said Const. Craig Brister.
However, Toronto paramedics do carry naxolone.
Dr. David Juurlink, head of clinical pharmacology and toxicology at the University of Toronto, said he thinks it’s a “mistake” for police not to have naloxone on hand.
“All first-responders should have it on them. That’s an easy method of precaution.”
Juurlink believes the spike in overdose deaths is a result of a surge of doctors prescribing opioids, which can lead to addiction.
“Every month that goes by, we’re losing more and more people to opioid overdose. I think it’s fair to say that we will lose more than 3,000 people in Canada this year,” he said.