Opioid crisis
Cambridge mayor wants region to declare a state of emergency
WATERLOO REGION — Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig has asked if Waterloo Region can declare a state of emergency with the aim of getting provincial help to deal with the opioid crisis.
“Are we able to declare an emergency and receive provincial funding for extra costs that are related to the opiate crisis in the community?” Craig asked at a council committee meeting on Tuesday. “If this is an emergency, can we do that?”
“It’s a really good question, so I think I’d have to look into it before I can give you clear answers,” said chief administrative officer Mike Murray. “We’ll look into it and let council know.”
Last October, Ontario created an “emergency task force” of front-line workers to advise on next steps in fighting the opioid overdose crisis. The government did not declare it an official public health emergency under provincial legislation, with the health minister at the time saying that law is intended for shortterm emergencies, not a “chronic” one such as opioids.
The definition of an emergency according to Ontario’s Emergency Management and Civil Protection Act is “a situation or an impending situation that constitutes a danger of major proportions that could result in serious harm to persons or substantial damage to property and that is caused by the forces of nature, a disease or other health risk, an accident or an act whether intentional or otherwise.”
In April 2016, British Columbia became the first province to declare a public health emergency following a dramatic increase in the number of overdose deaths. The declaration allowed health
officers to collect real-time information to identify patterns and quickly respond with prevention programs by targeting certain areas and groups of people, rather than waiting for data from the coroner’s office.
Opioid-related emergency department visits and deaths in the region outpace the provincial rates, according to a report given to council on Tuesday.
“It’s a dramatic situation. Those numbers are getting worse,” Craig said.
He said the region is too focused on supervised injection sites when there needs to be an overall plan on how to deal with the problem as a region.
“Isn’t this an emergency? Isn’t this a crisis? I think we have to look at it that way.”
The rate of opioid-related emergency department visits in Waterloo Region was 63 in 2017, compared to 48.1 for Ontario. This region’s rate has been higher than Ontario’s since 2015 with a similar trajectory. Locally, the number of emergency department visits rose from 149 in 2015 to 351 in 2017.
Opioid-related hospitalization rates in this region remained
stable between 2015 and 2017 and are similar to provincial rates.
The rate of opioid-related deaths in the region increased from 4.2 per 100,000 in 2015 to 12.7 in 2017 — an increase of 202.4 per cent over three years. The rate of opioid-related deaths in this region was higher than that of the province from 2016 to 2017. The 2017 provincial rate was 8.6.
In 2016, there were 38 opioidrelated deaths in Waterloo Region and 71 suspected overdose deaths in 2017.
Craig urged investment and quick introduction of a plan to deal with the growing impact of opioid use on the community, including discarded needles and drug use in public spaces. “I think we’re getting just a bit too focused here,” he cautioned.
Murray responded that there is a special committee to guide the region’s opioid strategy that’s based on the four-pillar approach to drug use, which includes harm reduction, prevention, recovery and rehabilitation, and enforcement and justice.
The region is looking into the possibility of three supervised injection sites, in the downtowns of Kitchener and Galt with a third spot to be determined that could be a mobile unit.
The first of two public meetings is being held Wednesday evening at the regional building in Kitchener. The next one is at Cambridge City Hall on April 4.
Opioid overdose calls are concentrated in the region’s urban areas, primarily central Kitchener and Cambridge, according to the report. The rate per 100,000 of suspected overdose calls in 2017 was 179.4 in Kitchener, 175.9 in Cambridge, and 61.5 in Waterloo.
Several councillors at Tuesday’s meeting mentioned the importance of educating the community not just on supervised injection sites, but those who are using drugs and need help to survive and hopefully recover with adequate support.
Coun. Tom Galloway said he regularly hears from people who think that drug use is primarily a problem among the homeless and people on social assistance when that is not the case.
“It could be your neighbour or a teenager in the house next door,” Galloway said.
Coun. Les Armstrong, mayor of Wilmot Township, said there is not enough focus on those who can be helped by support services. “You have to understand they are human beings and they are your neighbours and friends and relatives. People tend to forget.”