Hamilton paramedics responded to record number of suspected opioid overdose calls in June
As COVID-19 wanes, another epidemic continues to rage.
More people went to Hamilton emergency departments on drug-related visits in the first week of June - 100 - than in any of the 79 weeks prior dating back to December 2019, according to a Spectator analysis of city data.
And the 92 suspected opioid overdose calls Hamilton paramedics responded to in June mark a four-year high.
That's the highest number we've had since we started recording this data in 2017, which is certainly concerning for us," said Michelle Baird, a director in the city's public health department.
Between April and June of this year, Hamilton paramedics responded to 235 suspected opioid overdose calls.
That nearly matches all 257 calls recorded in the first six months of 2020.
But the troubling figures don't capture the full scope of the problem, said Baird, who noted many people experiencing overdose symptoms don't call 911 for lots of reasons."
There's other overdoses that are occurring when paramedics aren't involved," added Baird. But if you just look at the data this year as opposed to last year, the trend is highly concerning for us. It's really going in the direction that we don't want to see."
The concerning uptick comes as doctors raise the alarm about a more toxic and volatile supply of street drugs circulating in Hamilton.
Some of them - potent concoctions of fentanyl and powerful sedatives - don't respond as well to life-saving naloxone and leave seasoned users unconscious with patchy memories.
In February 2020, The Spectator reported on complaints about powerful opioids thought to be mixed with benzodiazepines, a group of sedatives used as anxiety medication and marketed under names like Valium or Xanax.
The drugs are for sure worse now," said Rebecca Morris-Miller, founder of the faith-based outreach agency Grenfell Ministries, which runs a 24-hour hotline aiming to prevent overdose deaths across Canada. It's been a succession of things going downhill."
Morris-Miller pointed to the Canada-U.S. border closures as one example that's led to more serious overdoses.
Drugs aren't moving the same as they once were, she said, prompting dealers to create a cocktail of powerful narcotics to match their supply stock with pre-pandemic levels.
When drugs are coming from other spaces, or aren't coming like they used to come, that means we have less supply. And when we have less supply, we have even less-safe supply," said Morris-Miller, who battled addiction herself.
They start mixing it with other stuff, like benzos, to get more on the street. It's become poisoned."
But there is another factor behind the raging opioid epidemic that Morris-Miller said must be considered.
Isolation during COVID hasn't just caused more people to use - it's caused them to use alone and more often, she said, a problem compounded by altered access to in-person peer support groups and community programs.
In 2020, there were 124 probable or confirmed opioid-related deaths in Hamilton - the most on record, according to Baird.
And a provincial study released in May suggests a large portion of those came during the pandemic.
Between March and December 2020, there were 110 suspected and confirmed opioid-related deaths in Hamilton, a 42 per cent increase over same period in 2019, the study found.
What's more: Hamilton's overdose fatality rate during that stretch was 34 per cent higher than the provincial average.
COVID has created this crazy feeling of isolation and it adds to substance use and mental health," said Morris-Miller. People being left alone with their own thoughts, in their own rooms, and that's all it takes to use."
Sebastian Bron is a Hamilton-based reporter at The Spectator. Reach him via email: sbron@thespec.com