Council committee backs mayor's crisis working group. London's response to the opioid crisis might become nearly as complex as the addictions that require it. City politicians voted in favour of yet another group focusing on solutions to opioid abuse Tuesday, but several admitted they were unclear on what, exactly, they were supporting. "I need to know this is going to be effective," Coun. Phil Squire told the community and protective services committee. His motion to send the plan back to staff for clarification was narrowly defeated. [continues 429 words]
The gruesome statistics on drug-related deaths, destroyed lives, broken relationships and demolished families are only getting worse every year. In one province, British Columbia, about 15 million hypodermic needles destined solely for illicit drug use were distributed last year to the various "safe injection" sites and agencies around the province. Fifteen million needles - it's hard to fathom the widespread addiction to various drugs and the terrible casualties inflicted. Unfortunately, it's growing in every province. In B.C., this is a 50 per cent increase from 2014 in hypos distributed for illicit use, and statistics for the rest of Canada must be similar. [continues 207 words]
It's time for Torontonians to start talking about decriminalizing some illicit drugs. That's according to the city's chief medical officer of health and the chairman of Toronto's Board of Health. Both Dr. Eileen de Villa and Councillor Joe Mihevc said Friday that Canada's current criminalization of drug use isn't working. Governments should tackle the problem from a public health standpoint and that could mean decriminalizing some drugs, like heroin, Mihevc said. "I would support a motion going to council asking that we consider (decriminalizing heroin) and begin the city dialogue to contribute to a national dialogue on the decriminalization of heroin and other drugs," he said. [continues 183 words]
Health board chair says overdose crisis should provoke rethinking Toronto's new medical officer of health is calling for a public discussion on the merits of decriminalizing all drugs in the wake of the ongoing overdose epidemic. "It's clear that our current approach to drugs in this city and this country doesn't seem to be having the desired impact," Dr. Eileen de Villa told reporters Friday at a briefing on how the city is responding to drug users overdosing and, in some cases, dying. [continues 464 words]
The number of drug overdose victims who required hospital treatment spiked in June to record levels as the city's opioid crisis continued to gather pace. Statistics released by Ottawa Public Health show 135 people were taken to local emergency departments because of drug overdoses during four weeks in June - more than in any other four-week period in two-and-a-half years. The final week of June saw 42 taken to hospital with potentially life-threatening drug overdoses. It's the highest weekly total recorded in the city's overdose database. [continues 434 words]
TORONTO - The swaying man stood in front of the convenience store, his head drooping near his knees, a bag of ladies' jeans in one hand. The pants retailed for $ 35 apiece, he said, but he'd take $10 for the lot. A prospective customer checked out the bag. The security tags were still on the pants. Plus, he noted, they were too small for his girlfriend. He eyed the salesman, struggling now. "He needs a hit," he said. "He's sick." [continues 779 words]
News that an Ottawa group is moving to start an opioid-substitution program - a form of supervised injection project - for city addicts is being applauded by another harm-reduction group that says it wants to follow suit. Meanwhile, city police and the local city councillor say they need to find out more about the new program before commenting on it. Ottawa Inner City Health is a not-for-profit that receives some provincial funding. It told the Citizen this week it wants to have a managed-opioid program running at the Shepherds of Good Hope in the ByWard Market by September. [continues 510 words]
Safe injection sites for Windsor could be part of a "comprehensive solution" as the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit embarks on a study of how best to tackle illegal drug use and its ensuing complications. Acting-medical officer of health Dr. Wajid Ahmed said the solution must address broader issues of mental health, social support, treatment options, enforcement issues and could possibly include a supervised injection site in the city. "Right now, we are at the very preliminary stage to even understand the potential action items needed in our community," Ahmed said. "When we have that, we will be in a much better position to say if this would be a good thing or a bad thing. [continues 272 words]
The news coming out about the fentanyl crisis in Cambridge is overwhelmingly bad as well as heartbreaking. People are overdosing on the dangerous drug, which is 100 times more powerful than morphine. People are dying from it, too, often taking heroin or cocaine without realizing fentanyl has been added. In just a few months, the problem - long associated with Canada's West Coast - has escalated to the point that many residents in downtown Galt no longer venture out at night out of fear of encountering comatose drug users and used syringes. At least one resident is threatening to move out. [continues 412 words]
Don't use alone, chief coroner urges, as 2017 death toll in opioid crisis hits 780 Fewer people died of drug overdoses in June than in earlier months of this year, but the death rate continues to be far higher than last year. According to the B.C. Coroners Service, 780 deaths so far this year can be attributed to overdosing on illicit drugs. That's up 88 per cent from the same period a year ago, when there were 414 deaths. In total, there were 978 overdoses deaths in B.C. last year. [continues 700 words]
Last weekend was a particularly dangerous one for opioid users in Toronto. It was so perilous, in fact, that Toronto police put out a safety alert after the city saw four drug-related deaths and 20 overdoses in just two days. Authorities believe the deaths and overdoses were from heroin laced with fentanyl, an opioid that is 50 times stronger than heroin. Sadly, things did not get better from there. On Tuesday the bodies of two teenage girls were found in an Etobicoke condominium. Police suspect they, too, died of overdoses. [continues 853 words]
Wrong-headed! Coun. Joe Cressy must have been licking his lips with glee Thursday. The recent spike in opioid overdoses in the city would garner him more media - and the NDPer just loves media attention especially when he can blather on about the fact that more public money is needed for (insert affordable housing, bike lanes here), or, as he claimed Thursday, the "escalating drug crisis." Since he'd already informed us before he guilted the mayor and council into approving three new harm reduction (aka feed addicts their poisons, but safely) sites last summer that there'd been a drug crisis in the city for the last 10 years, Cressy had to insert "escalating" to make the crisis seem, well, really crisis-like. [continues 510 words]
The federal government has approved the first supervised consumption site in Victoria for illicit drug users, but it will be at least a year before it opens. "This is going to save lives and take us beyond what our overdose prevention sites are doing," said Dr. Richard Stanwick, chief medical officer for Island Health. "Now they won't be a stop-gap measure, they are a bridge." The site approved by Health Canada is at 941 Pandora Ave. and will be called the Pandora Community Health and Wellness Centre. It's next to Our Place Society, which offers various services to Victoria's vulnerable citizens. [continues 498 words]
Managed opioid program to open in response to fentanyl crisis As a fentanyl crisis sweeps the country, medical officials in Ottawa are moving quickly and quietly to open a supervised injection site for opioid users. The opioid substitution program, which will be the only the second of its kind in Canada, is expected to formally begin in September at the Shepherds of Good Hope in the ByWard Market area. While attention in this city has been focused on a recently approved supervised-injection site for illegal drug users, officials with Inner City Health have been planning the managed opioid program, which will open first. [continues 838 words]
City responds to OD spike The city will accelerate the opening of three supervised injection sites to address the recent surge in overdose deaths across Toronto. It's just one of a number of measures Mayor John Tory and a group of health officials and first responders will pursue immediately in the wake of the overdose spike. In a statement released after an emergency meeting of the group Thursday, Tory called the deaths an "unimaginable tragedy." "Today, I asked our first responders to ensure we are doing everything as fast as possible to implement Toronto's Overdose Action Plan," he said. [continues 325 words]
Substitution site for addicts set for September As a fentanyl crisis sweeps the country, medical officials in Ottawa are moving quickly and quietly to open a supervised injection site for opioid users. The opioid substitution program, which will be the only the second of its kind in Canada, is expected to formally begin in September at the Shepherds of Good Hope in the By Ward Market area. While attention in this city has been focused on a recently approved supervised-injection site for illegal drug users, officials with Inner City Health have been planning the managed opioid program, which will open first. [continues 822 words]
Shirley Jones said she was devastated to learn that three young men in her family from the Tseshaht First Nation in Port Alberni died in recent weeks from suspected fentanyl overdoses. "It's heart-wrenching living this [crisis] at work and then hearing about these young people in my mother's family," said Jones, who is a custodian at Our Place Society on Pandora Avenue. An overdose-prevention site has operated at the site since 2016. "Even here, I've seen young natives who were chronic alcoholics die from overdoses, and I had no idea they even used," she said. "It was hidden." [continues 504 words]
The people who want to walk the riverside trails in Galt without being confronted by the discarded syringes of drug addicts have every right to voice concern. I don't blame them one bit for wanting to reclaim their community and asking that it be cleaned up. Robin Thomas, who carries her dog in order to protect it from stepping on drug paraphernalia, often sees clothes and backpacks stowed in the underbrush. Sometimes she even sees people who are "almost comatose." [continues 489 words]
As the opioid crisis worsens, the more we learn about why people are dying. One thing is evident: the drug supply is becoming more toxic. The deadly drug fentanyl is being detected in more than 72 per cent of all overdose deaths in British Columbia. Two years ago, it was found in only 29 per cent; two years before that, just 15 per cent. While untold fatal overdoses have been prevented by first responders, other health-care providers, and peer groups, the increasingly poisonous drug supply is clearly undermining the efforts to reduce overdose deaths. [continues 485 words]
Volunteer often finds dozens of needles during daily walks through Centennial Gardens in St. Catharines Fred Bowering scoured the underbrush at the side of the trails, carefully searching for syringes and other drug-related items tossed carelessly aside. And he never fails to find them - often by the dozens - during his almost daily walks through Centennial Gardens. "They throw them into the tall grass," he said Wednesday morning while walking through the 27 acres of parkland off Oakland Avenue. "They discard them into the woods, you see there," he said, pointing to syringes partially hidden by foliage, and another jabbed into a tree trunk. [continues 1279 words]
