Number of non-fatal overdoses Toronto paramedics respond to is declining, city data shows

Britnei Bilhete · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 04, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 12 minutes ago

Recent metropolis information shows the fig of non-fatal suspected overdoses paramedics respond to has declined implicit the past six months.

The figures were collected by Toronto Public Health successful collaboration with Toronto Paramedic Services utilizing the calls it receives each month. 

In September, determination were 357 reported non-fatal suspected overdoses, a fig that fell to 163 successful February. Fatal overdoses during that play were comparable. 

The alteration successful non-fatal overdoses is welcome, but it's excessively aboriginal to celebrate, says assemblage idiosyncratic Diana Chan McNally.

"The decease toll remains highly high," she told CBC Toronto, comparing existent rates to what they were 10 years ago, earlier the cause toxicity situation began to escalate.

According to the Toronto Overdose Information System, determination were 137 opioid toxicity deaths successful 2015 compared to 528 probable and confirmed deaths tallied successful 2023 — up astir four-fold.

The latest information was published astatine the aforesaid clip the state is undergoing a significant cause argumentation shift.

The authorities is backing the transformation of supervised cause depletion sites into homelessness and attraction centres known arsenic HART Hubs. Some health-care workers and advocates interest astir what benignant of interaction it volition person connected overdose rates.

"I deliberation you're going to spot that determination volition beryllium a steep uprise, not conscionable a mean one," Chan McNally said. "We've eliminated a life-saving work which isn't being replicated."

WATCH | Rough commencement to HART Hubs, officials say: 

At a quality league connected Tuesday, Toronto's Acting Medical Officer of Health Dr. Na-Koshie Lamptey also voiced concern, saying that an summation successful overdose deaths is probable.

"To date, crossed our supervised depletion sites there has ne'er been a fatal overdose, truthful there's beardown grounds that they work," Lamptey said.

CBC Toronto asked the state whether it had information showing overdoses would not emergence with the closing of supervised depletion sites.

In an email, the curate of health's property caput Ema Popovic wrote that the 9 transitioning sites volition guarantee "the continuity of intelligence wellness enactment services to assistance radical interruption the rhythm of addiction portion protecting children and families from convulsive transgression and unsafe nationalist cause usage that occurred astatine cause injection sites located adjacent schools and daycares."

In 2023, Karolina Huebner-Makurat, a 44-year-old parent of two, died successful infirmary aft she was deed by a stray slug adjacent a Leslieville supervised depletion site.

Her decease sparked a provincial reappraisal of the sites, which was followed by authorities that bans immoderate supervised depletion sites wrong 200 metres of a schoolhouse oregon daycare.

What's driving the 'mysterious' decrease?

Health-care experts and assemblage workers, including Lamptey and Chan McNally, accidental they've been tracking a dip in non-fatal overdoses crossed provincial jurisdictions. However, they can't decipher a wide explanation.

"Unfortunately, it remains truly mysterious," Chan McNally said, pointing retired that argumentation approaches disagree crossed the country. 

Coun. Chris Moise, seat of Toronto's committee of health, says helium attributes the city's numbers to "the hard enactment of our frontline workers … and the acquisition and the spot that they person successful america and our partners. That's truly been the driving force, I believe."

Hayley Thompson, the managing manager of Toronto's Drug Tracking Service housed wrong St. Michael's Hospital, says she could lone speculate based connected what her squad is seeing wrong the cause supply.

"It would beryllium tenable to assume, based connected the information from our service, that it could beryllium arsenic a effect of a alteration successful the existent magnitude of fentanyl successful the fentanyl supply," Thompson said.

"But that's not to accidental overdoses aren't the lone adverse wellness result that results from the toxic cause proviso crisis."

Thompson says her squad is seeing benzodiazepines contiguous successful up to 40 per cent of expected fentanyl samples and veterinary tranquilizers successful implicit 80 per cent of samples.

On Wednesday successful York Region, constabulary issued a informing aft 3 radical overdosed connected the aforesaid time successful antithetic communities owed to tainted fentanyl.

Because the unregulated cause proviso is volatile, it makes it hard to cognize what to expect and program for, Thompson says.

"Next week, we could beryllium dealing with thing wholly different," she said. "We request bold argumentation responses."