(Photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / Novic)(Photo courtesy of © Can Stock Photo / Novic)
Windsor

OPP: 'Alarming' increase in opioid overdoses and deaths

The Ontario Provincial Police has released a report highlighting what it calls an alarming jump in the number of opioid-related deaths so far this year.

The OPP said it released its Opioids and Overdoses: Impact and Strategies report Wednesday in an effort to prevent future deaths. The report identified a 35 per cent jump in opioid-related deaths during the first quarter of 2019, over the same period last year.

OPP officers have been carrying naloxone since September 2017 and since then have used it on 79 occasions, saving 73 lives. However, police have administered the highest number of naloxone doses in March and April of this year.

A release from the OPP said its Opioids Working Group has been working over the past year to understand the impacts of overdoses and opioids on the communities it patrols.

"Every life matters; meaning every overdose occurrence will be thoroughly investigated," said Superintendent Bryan MacKillop, director of the Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau. "We owe it to each victim to thoroughly investigate every occurrence so we can target those who produce, import and traffic these harmful and deadly substances."

While police recorded 3,286 opioid-related deaths across Canada last year, almost 40 per cent were in Ontario. British Columbia documented 1,155 deaths, or 35 per cent of the national total. Alberta had the third highest rate with 613 deaths.

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