Premier Kathleen Wynne to call meeting of Ontario mayors to plot strategies for opioid crisis

The number of people dying from fentanyl, which is 80 times more powerful than morphine, is on the rise. Municipalities are struggling to keep up.

Thestar.com
March 6, 2017
By Rob Ferguson

Mayors from across Ontario will soon be called to a meeting to share strategies in dealing with the opioid drug crisis as the number of deaths continues to rise, says Premier Kathleen Wynne.

The provincial government is prepared to support local plans dealing with overdoses of fentanyl and other opioids, Wynne added Tuesday after a meeting with Ottawa Mayor Jim Watson who requested $2.5 million aid.

“We’ve seen some tragic deaths in the city of Ottawa in the recent past several weeks,” said Watson, who is looking for assistance with naloxone antidote kits for use by first responders, and treatment and detox beds.

“There are smaller cities and smaller municipalities that are grappling with this terrible tragedy of young people becoming addicted, not having the necessary detox capacity or treatment facilities, and, literally, people dying every week.”

Wynne said Ottawa’s strategy could serve as a guide to other municipalities as authorities struggle with the impact of fentanyl, which is 80 times more powerful than morphine.

“We are going to work with him (Mayor Watson) to make sure that he has those resources to put his plan in place,” the premier said after the meeting.

The province has already agreed to fund three supervised injection sites in Toronto, where there were about 250 overdose deaths last year.

Health Minister Eric Hoskins announced in January that the sites will be located at health centres where users will be able to inject their own illegal drugs, but with medical supervision.

Fentanyl can halt breathing and require life-saving efforts within a few minutes. It’s often difficult for users to know whether fentanyl is in the drugs users are injecting, because it is sometimes mixed with heroin.

Hoskins said Monday a meeting of mayors and their health advisors on opioids would be “an important next step” to improving services.

“We’ll be able to talk about where the gaps are, where the local plans can dovetail with the provincial plan,” Wynne added.

Ontario is gathering data to track opioid use.