Ontario to offer naloxone to police, firefighters as opioid deaths rise

TORONTO — Ontario will offer naloxone to police and firefighters across the province and can now approve safe injection sites on its own, it announced Thursday as new figures showed a dramatic spike in opioid-related deaths.

There were 336 opioid-related deaths in the province from May to July — an increase of 68 per cent from the same period last year, Chief Coroner Dirk Huyer said.

“It’s incredibly significant and an incredibly large number,” he said. “This is a phenomenally big issue that’s occurring in Ontario and across Canada.”

As well, the province said Thursday that there were 2,449 emergency department visits from July to September related to opioid overdoses — an increase of 115 per cent increase from a year earlier.

The coroner’s office changed how it collects that data in May, allowing it to access the numbers more quickly, so it is still working on determining how many people died from opioids between January and April, Huyer said. Last year opioids killed 865 people in Ontario.

“The data demonstrates the urgent need for continued and heightened action to address this growing public health emergency,” said Health Minister Eric Hoskins.

“While we talk about this data we cannot forget for even one second that each and every one of these numbers is a person.” Huyer also said Ontario saw a continued increase in fentanyl being found in cases of opioid deaths.