Deaths due to opioid use on rise
New report documents provincial numbers
More than two people are dying a day from opioid overdoses across Ontario — most commonly from fentanyl.
The rate of opioid-related deaths generally across the province has almost quadrupled in the last quarter century, soaring from fewer than 144 deaths in 1991 to more than 734 deaths in 2015.
Close to 50 of them were in Hamilton.
These most recent statistics were released Thursday in a report by the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network (ODPRN) and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) — one that also highlights a shift in the type of opioids that people are using and abusing.
“What we also found really interesting was the types of opioids involved in those deaths and how those have changed over time,” lead author Tara Gomes, a scientist at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences and St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, said.
Before 2012, oxycodone was the most common drug identified in opioid-related deaths. But after it was pulled from pharmacy shelves and replaced with a tamper-resistant formulation, other opioids began to replace it on the list.
Fentanyl — a potent opioid 100 times stronger than morphine — is now the leading culprit; having been linked to 214 deaths in 2015 — an increase of 548 per cent from 2006.
Traditionally available in prescription patch form, illicit versions of fentanyl — in powder, pill and even liquid form — have become increasingly popular on the streets. But what specific type of fentanyl involved in these deaths remains unclear in Ontario.
“What we don’t know in Ontario is the degree to which the illicit form of fentanyl is really driving the increases we’re seeing, compared to fentanyl patches that are being prescribed by physicians and then diverted onto the street,” said Gomes, adding that B.C. has witnessed “an enormous rise” in illicit fentanyl deaths in the last two years.
Another finding in the report, which is based on 1991-2015 data obtained from the Office of the Chief Coroner for Ontario, is that other drugs are often present in these opioid-related deaths — mainly benzodiazepine (which was present in more than half of the deaths) and cocaine (present in almost onethird).
Gomes says this may be indicative of the trend of mixing or lacing fentanyl into other drugs — either to extend a dealer’s supply, or to enhance the strength of a drug.
“And we’re seeing a fair amount of stories about people using cocaine who end up dying of a fentanyl overdose because they don’t realize they’re taking an opioid and may never have been exposed to an opioid before,” Gomes said. “They may have simply been cocaine users.”
Hydromorphone-related deaths also increased by 232 per cent during that same time, linked to a total of 199 deaths in 2015. Heroin deaths more than doubled between 2012 and 2015, with the drug being linked to 86 deaths in 2015.
In Hamilton so far this year, paramedics have responded to 87 calls related to opioid overdoses. In 79 per cent of cases, the patient was a man, and the average age was 36.
More than 450 naloxone kits — containing the opioid antidote which is used to temporarily reverse the effects of an overdose — have been distributed by public health. Of those, 90 have been used to reverse an overdose.