The opioid poisoning crisis remains worse in Hamilton than in the rest of Ontario, where it is even more fatal than before COVID-19.
Suspected drug-related deaths in Ontario in August were more than a third higher than in August last year before the COVID-19 pandemic. Almost a tenth of those that occurred in Hamilton and 3 neighboring municipalities.
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All of those deaths, not to mention fatal overdose injuries, which are nearly unintentional, occurred amid continued pressure from The AIDS Network (TAN) to open a momentary CTS (Treatment and Consumer Services) site, or safe injection site, at 746 Barton St. E. , near the east end. It also happened when the current City Council and Mayor Fred Eisenberger called on the federal government to decriminalize drug possession by minors and accompany Hamilton on a similar pilot assignment being conducted in Vancouver.
Harsit Patel, a pharmacist at Hamilton Health Sciences, recently told TheHammer that city paramedics are responding to 50% more overdose calls than before COVID 2019. prescription medications.
Patel and other pharmacists advocate that naloxone kits, which come with nasal sprays or needles, be automatically included when prescription drugs are shipped. Naloxone can also be obtained for free at all Ontario pharmacies.
There were 20 suspected drug-related deaths last month in Hamilton, the Halton region, Haldimand-Norfolk and Brant County, according to their respective public fitness units. Fifteen were reported in Hamilton. Three in Brant and one each recorded in Halton and Hal-Nor.
The province recorded 206 suspected drug-related deaths last month. It is 39% more than in August 2019, before the pandemic. ThisArray however, a minimum of 35% from August 2021 and a monthly low of 24% from July. These figures come from the provincial chief’s workplace.
Hamilton paramedics have most likely already responded to more than 500 incidents of suspected opioid poisoning this year. The official count 467 as of August 14, 4 weeks ago.
Last fall, the city approved The AIDS Network’s proposal to create the CTS moment at 746 Barton E. , saying the Keeping Six Harm Reduction Team and the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team (HAMSmart) would be partners. The STC would have a dozen workers for protection details, adding discarded cleaning needles.
St. Ann Catholic Elementary School is about two hundred meters away, and the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board and the citizens of the domain have opposed the proposal.
Currently, The AID Network states on its online page that many of the elements needed for an STC beyond a physical location are safe. These come with “a diversity of holistic fitness and wellness facilities through our programming and for our network partnerships. We are now looking for the municipality for our application to the Ministry of Health and we are starting our network consultation process. »
More than 20 network partners supported the proposal last October when it was presented to the Elected Health Board. Ten months later, the same councillors lent their voices to see if decriminalisation is right for Hamilton.
The city’s STC is located at the Hamilton Urban Core Community Health Center (181 Main St. W. ).