Naloxone use by city police on the rise
Windsor police administered naloxone to nine people in the last three months — more than double the number officers treated at the year's start — according to a quarterly report from the force published this week.
In April, May, and June, officers used 20 doses of the overdose-reversal drug on nine individuals. That's up from six doses on four people in the three months prior, though not all city officers were equipped with naloxone kits until at least late February.
Included in the agenda for Thursday's Windsor Police Services Board meeting, the Naloxone Quarterly Report also states police were on scene for 202 incidents where naloxone was administered by emergency medical services, fire and rescue, or some other individual. In the three months prior, that number was 195.
Windsor Police Service communications officer Const. Darius Goze, on Tuesday, told the Star comment from police on naloxone use would not be given until the board meeting on Thursday afternoon.
So far this year, the Windsor-essex Community Opioid and Substance Strategy (WECOSS) — a collaborative local initiative to address the harms associated with opioid and substance abuse — has issued nine alerts following higher than average numbers of opioidand overdose-related emergency department visits. In all of last year, WECOSS issued only three alerts.
Listed in alerts from 2021, so far, were roughly 105 overdose-related emergency department visits, most of which involved fentanyl.
Another 20 non-overdose opioid-related emergency department visits were recorded, some involving fentanyl and some involving methamphetamine.
The last alert was issued on July 15, with 26 opioid-related emergency department visits from July 6 to 13. Eighteen of those were overdoses and 17 of them involved fentanyl.
Those numbers don't capture those who visited a local emergency department for treatment of an overdose or other opioid-related issue during a time that didn't warrant an alert. According to the Windsor-essex County Health Unit, there were 157 opioid overdose-related emergency department visits in the first five months of 2021, compared to 121 such visits in 2020. Data is not yet available for June or July of this year.
In light of the alarming number of overdose alerts issued so far this year, Medical Officer of Health Dr. Wajid Ahmed last week encouraged those with loved ones who use opioids to carry naloxone kits, and to visit wecoss.ca to find out where they can access free kits and how to use them. The website also has information about resources for those ready to quit using substances, and harm reduction strategies for those who aren't.
“The pandemic is impacting everyone,” Ahmed said on Friday. “For people who have a mental health history, a history of addiction, they are even more vulnerable, and they end up using some of these substances to control some of their concerns, fears, stresses and anxieties.
“If they are not doing it safely, they are putting themselves at risk.”
The decision to equip all Windsor police officers with naloxone was announced in late February following an urgent conversion of the downtown aquatic centre into a temporary shelter for homeless people with the Downtown Mission closed because of a COVID -19 outbreak. The decision came in response to officers from all areas of patrol being redeployed at the emergency shelter as well as the city's isolation and recovery centre.
The Windsor Police Service is one of more than a dozen local agencies with representatives on the WECOSS leadership committee, which is co-chaired by Ahmed and Essex-windsor EMS Chief Bruce Krauter.