Toronto’s chief medical officer calls opioid overdose crisis an epidemic of drug toxicity and pushes for an empathetic health response as officials release preliminary annual data on overdose deaths in the city .
Toronto Public Health says data released Wednesday shows 523 deaths from opioid poisoning were reported last year, a slight increase from the previous year. This is, however, a drop from the 2021 high of 591.
In a statement, the city’s chief medical officer of health, Dr. Eileen de Villa, called the continued loss of life “devastating,” adding that it was a “human tragedy that demands that we respond with empathy, care and compassion.”
Preliminary details of 426 of the deaths ruled accidental show that about half of those people lived in private accommodation and more than a third were at home when they died.
Some have criticized British Columbia’s recent decision to recriminalize public drug possession, in part because they say it will push people to increasingly use drugs in private spaces, out of sight of those who could help them in the event of an overdose.
Toronto Public Health’s request for drug decriminalization, part of a series of measures it has advocated to combat the overdose crisis, was rejected by Ottawa earlier this month.
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