Encampment death a stark reminder of Hamilton’s spiralling opioid crisis

Before police probed a grassy strip of land off a street in north Hamilton around noon Monday, a man's body was pulled out of a tent and loaded into an ambulance.

He was in his 30s and died after a suspected overdose.

Those who live in the encampment on Strachan Street, near Bayfront Park, said he'd only been there for around six weeks, kept to himself and did his own thing.

But that lack of familiarity didn't make it any easier to see him carried away.

It makes you worry about yourself," said Eric Bouchard, who's lived at the encampment since late August. It can happen to anyone."

The man's untimely death is just the latest flashpoint in a crippling local opioid crisis.

By June, there were already 85 probable or confirmed opioid-related deaths here this year, according to the city's latest numbers - putting Hamilton on pace for even more deaths in 2021 than in 2020, when there were a record-setting 124.

For first responders, the situation on the ground has been unprecedented.

As of Wednesday, Hamilton paramedics had responded to 804 suspected opioid overdose calls in 2021 - already significantly more than in any of the previous four years. In 2020, they responded to 565 calls, 596 in 2019, 450 in 2018, and 430 in 2017.

In August, when calls peaked at an all-time monthly high of 109, paramedics were responding to as many as five suspected overdoses a day, paramedic superintendent Dave Thompson said at the time.

We continue to see the challenges of the opioid crisis within the city of Hamilton," he added Tuesday. We're working with our community partners and agencies collaborating to beat the opioid crisis."

It's unclear how many of those paramedic calls were at encampments. But advocates on the front lines say there is a connection between Hamilton's enduring crises of homelessness and overdoses.

There's just so much desperation in people who are unhoused," said Dr. Jill Wiwcharuk of the Hamilton Social Medicine Response Team. I can't think of anyone who wouldn't feel desperate living outside when temperatures are dropping below zero and they desperately want to be inside."

Overdoses among the city's most vulnerable have been compounded by overwhelmed shelters, she added, as well as a recent court ruling that once again allows the city to clear tents from public parks.

I visit encampments multiple times a week, and every time, I'm talking to people who want to be inside, who want to get a shelter bed, who want to access the resources available to them inside," said Wiwcharuk. But there's no room for them."

There's also the issue of volatile and contaminated street drugs making their way to unwitting users.

The COVID pandemic severely disrupted the global drug supply chain. So, dealers began creating cocktails of dangerous narcotics, including some resistant to life-saving naloxone, in order to maintain their stock. When those drugs end up in the hands of unknowing users, the consequences can be quick and deadly.

All of the supply is toxic right 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.

But bad batches of drugs aren't necessarily anything new, Morris-Miller noted. She said the key is in more harm-reduction programs and safe injection sites that protect users.

Charging the dealers is not going to save anyone. We need to charge the politicians, who know what they need to and have known what they need to do - yet they choose not to do it."

Sebastian Bron is a reporter at The Spectator. sbron@thespec.com