Pandemic is deepening Toronto’s opioid crisis

Health officer reveals spike in fatal, non-fatal overdoses since March

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the already “deadly overdose crisis in the city,” a new report suggests.

Dr. Eileen de Villa, Toronto’s medical officer of health, released a report that points to an increase in both fatal and nonfatal overdoses since March.

“Between April 1 and Sept. 30 of 2020, 132 people in Toronto lost their lives due to a suspected opioid overdose — nearly double the number from the same period in 2018 and 2019.”

Coun. Joe Cressy, chair of Toronto Public Health, says public health experts have kept the community safe with their response to COVID-19, and the same should be mirrored when “tackling the public health emergency that is the overdose crisis in our city.”

Mayor John Tory says the city’s Overdose Action Plan, which was implemented in 2017, has made a “positive difference.”

“The fact is we need a laserfocused effort by all three governments, particularly the provincial government with it’s responsibility for health care, if we want to stop the dying and suffering,” Tory said. “They need help and we need help as a city to care for them just as we would care for someone with a heart condition or a kidney problem.”

De Villa listed urgent actions that would require all levels of the government to act.

In addition to current work that Toronto Board of Health and Toronto Public Health have already undertaken, such as their funding of 22 harm-reduction programs, other recommendations included: expanding safer supply programs, funding grief and trauma support for front-line workers and people who use drugs, piloting supervised consumption services, as well as peer supervision in congregated or residential settings, and a commitment to decriminalizing possession of all drugs for personal use.

De Villa’s report and recommendations will be further considered by the Toronto Board of Health Nov. 16.