Both the city and an organization that manages a supervised consumption site in downtown Ottawa are reporting an increase in suspicious calls and overdose-related deaths last week and warn that it may be due to a “bad batch” of drugs .
In a press release Tuesday, the Ottawa Overdose Prevention and Response Working Group warned residents of “an increase” in suspicious overdose-related incidents, noting that police and paramedics responded at least to 22 service calls for this reason last week. There were five suspected overdose deaths, the city said.
Police clarified that the “increase” was compared to last week’s data, when they responded to 11 calls on suspicion of overdose.
Wendy Muckle, general manager of Ottawa Inner City Health, which provides health care services to the homeless, says the city’s data isn’t surprising based on what she’s seeing in shelters and the busiest place of supervised consumption of ‘Ottawa, located in the ByWard Market.
These are five lives that were lost 100% unnecessarily.- Wendy Muckle, CEO of Ottawa Inner City Health
“We’re also seeing an increase, so the numbers aren’t a surprise,” Muckle said. “Usually, what that means is just a bad batch of drugs. In this case, I think it’s fentanyl.”
He explained how a local person overdosed on Monday after using what they believed was marijuana. The drug appeared to contain fentanyl, Muckle said.
“So people are using what they think they would normally use, but unfortunately they succumb to an overdose as a result.”
Muckle said the Murray Street supervised consumption site sees approximately one overdose every 24 hours on average. Last week there were 29 overdoses at the site, up from 20 the previous week.
“Definitely an increase from what we normally see,” he said.
Wendy Muckle, CEO of Ottawa Inner City Health, at a supervised injection site. She says the five suspected overdose deaths are heartbreaking and “100 percent preventable.” (Laurie Fagan / CBC)
Muckle said the recent increase in overdose in Ottawa, while not uncommon, should serve as a warning to the community “that things are not right.”
“We need solutions to this overdose crisis. This has been affecting our city since 2017,” Muckle said, adding that Ottawa needs a long-term investment in trauma prevention, decriminalization and treatment.
“My heart is broken for their families and for their community and loved ones. These are five lives that were lost 100% unnecessarily. Each of these deaths can be 100% prevented.
Symptoms and safety tips
According to the latest preliminary Ottawa Public Health (OPH) data for 2022, in May there were 71 emergency visits related to opioid overdose in the hospital. The highest so far this year was 76 emergency visits in March.
In 2021, OPH recorded 127 deaths related to opioid overdose.
Symptoms or signs of an opioid overdose include slow or absent breathing, blue nails and lips, sounds of gurgling or snoring, suffocation, sticky or cold skin, tiny pupils, and immobility or unconsciousness, depending on the city.
The city reminds people who use drugs:
- Never use alone, or if you do, tell someone beforehand and have a safety plan.
- Never mix drugs.
- Go slow, as the quality of illegal drugs is unpredictable.
- Take naloxone, a medicine that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose.
- Know your tolerance.
- Consider visiting one of the city’s supervised consumption sites.