Overdoses in Hamilton, Ontario, and Beyond
Author(s): Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Canadian Students for Sensible Drug Policy
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2018/03/17
Ontario has been hit, as well, by the opioid crisis sweeping across the nation. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to one of Ontario’s city about it.
Trudeau has described this as an important goal for his federal government. One municipal officer made a call for more concrete measures to deal with addiction at its source.
Out of the city of Hamilton, there were 70 opioid-related deaths between January and October alone, the situation for the crisis is becoming worse an worse. Only 41 occurred in 2016 in Hamilton.
How many more will happen in 2018? Trudeau was giving a tour of speeches on the various steel-producing communities with commentary on the opioid crisis destroying lives, families, and, some communities.
Trudeau said, “We know that we have to address this. This is getting to be more and more of a problem… We have always put this at the top of our preoccupations as we deal with this public health crisis here in Hamilton and right across the country.”
The Medical Officer for Health for Hamilton, Dr. Elizabeth Richardson, explained the Hamilton area has an unusually or atypical rate of deaths associated or linked with opioid overdoses.
Richardson said, “There needs to be continued focus on what do we do to stop people from being in a position where they are finding drugs as a way of managing their physical and emotional pain… We do need that fundamental support from the get-go … around housing, around income support, around civil society that are really important pieces to underpin it all.”
The province of Ontario had a total of 1,053 opioid-related deaths between January and October of 2017 with only 694 between January and October of 2016. Ottawa will be dispersing $150 million in emergency funding for all provinces and territories in Canada in order to combat the opioid crisis.
The money is in the new federal budget. “The balance will go toward public-education campaigns, better access to public-health data and new equipment and tools to allow border agents to better detect dangerous opioids such as fentanyl before they enter the country,” McQuigge reported, “The Ontario government has pledged to spend more than $222-million over three years to tackle the issue, with money earmarked to expand harm-reduction services and hire more frontline staff.”
Opioids will kill is predicted to kill more than 4,000 lives in 2018 based on projections from the Public Health Agency of Canada.
References
McQuigge, M. (2018, March 13). Trudeau says addressing opioids a top priority as Hamilton sees spike. Retrieved from https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-hamiltons-opioid related-deaths-78-per-cent-higher-than-ontario/.
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