SUDBURY DISTRICT—While opioid deaths and overdose cases in the Sudbury-Manitoulin region have declined a bit in the first five months of 2023, the rates are almost three times higher in the area than the overall Ontario average. A report released last week by the Community Drug Strategy and published on the Public Health Sudbury and Districts (PHSD) website found that from January to May of this year, 39 residents of the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts died from an opioid-related overdose.
“This represents a local annualized mortality rate of 45 deaths per 100,000 per year, significantly higher than the rate in Ontario overall, 17 deaths per 100,000 population per year,” the report said. During the same time period last year, 53 residents of the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts died from an opioid-related overdose, a local annualized mortality rate of 61.6 deaths per 100,000 population per year.
In total for 2022, 112 residents of the Sudbury-Manitoulin districts died from an opioid-related overdose. This represents a local annualized mortality rate of 54.1 deaths per 100,000 population per year, significantly higher than the comparable rate in Ontario overall, 16.8 deaths per 100,000 population per year, the report shows. In 2021, 98 residents in the Sudbury-Manitoulin districts died from an opioid-related overdose, with represents a local annual mortality rate of 47.7 deaths per 100,000 population per year, significantly higher than the comparable rate in Ontario overall, 19.2 deaths per 100,000 population per year.
It is with this in mind that PHSD is hosting an opioid crisis summit in December. “Yes, a City of Greater Sudbury Drug Toxicity Crisis Leadership Summit will take place in December,” said Nicole Gauthier, health promoter health promotion division of the PHSD. “We will be inviting leadership from all health sectors in the Sudbury district including Manitoulin Island.”
“We know the rates of drug toxicity are very concerning and are intensifying,” said Ms. Gauthier. “The unregulated drug supply is becoming increasingly toxic, someone using may think they are taking one type of drug when it could be a combination of several different drugs.”
“This is not an issue that is unique to Sudbury,” said Ms. Gauthier. “No community is untouched by drug concerns. But Sudbury and district have one of highest rates in Ontario for overdose deaths, three times over the provincial average. People are dying unnecessarily, and it not only affects the person taking the drugs but their family, friends, and colleagues.”
PHSD feels, “that we need to take a call of action to save lives,” said Ms. Gauthier. She explained, “the purpose and goal of the summit is to bring people together for local action to be taken and to ensure accountability. By bringing all stakeholders together we want to explore strategies and come up with a comprehensive approach to tackle the issue. And we want to put together a concrete tangible series of next steps to dealing with this very important issue. We need to act now, people are dying.”
The report notes that from January to September there were 260 visits to emergency departments in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts for confirmed opioid overdoses. This represents a local annualized rate of 166.3 visits per 100,000 population per year, significantly higher than the rate in Ontario overall, 79.2 visits per 100,000 population per year.
For the same period in 2022 there were 345 visits to emergency departments in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts for confirmed opioid overdoses, which represents a local annualized rate of 222.5 visits per 100,000 population per year, significantly higher than the rate in Ontario overall, 83.3 visits per 100,000 population per year.
In 2022 there were 472 visits to emergency departments in the Sudbury and Manitoulin districts for confirmed opioid overdoses, representing a local annualized rate of 228.0 visits per 100,000 population per year, significantly higher than the comparable rate in Ontario overall, 81.1 visits per 100,000 population per year.
In 2021 there were 636 visits to emergency departments in the Sudbury-Manitoulin districts for confirmed opioid overdoses. This represents a local annual rate of 309.3 visits per 100,000 population per year, significantly higher than the comparable rate in Ontario overall, 115.6 visits per 100,000 population per year.
The original idea for the summit came about due to the significant number of overdose deaths in Sudbury and other Northern Ontario cities in the past two years, according to a motion that had been tabled by PHSD in June. The concept of a summit was endorsed by the City of Greater Sudbury city council.
PHSD said the plan is to hold what it calls the Drug Toxicity Crisis Leadership Summit. The event is inviting political leaders to get involved with public health leaders and members of the many social agencies that have a stake in trying to help people struggling with opioid addiction.
While the opioid summit is being planned, the province has frozen funding for Sudbury’s safe supervised consumption site, which has about 300 clients. CTV News reported last week that the area NDP MPP’s made an appeal to Ontario Premier Doug Ford to provide funding.
In Sudbury, municipal funding for Reseau Access Network received to operate the site runs out at the end of the year, putting the future of the site into question, CTV reported. A funding application to the Ministry of Health two years ago has been ignored at the provincial level, the NDP said.
Greater Sudbury agreed to fund the site until the provincial could step up, but that funding runs out at the end of this current year, reported CTV.
Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas said at the press conference that the money for the site has been set aside. She was quoted by CTV as saying, “You know what not spending that money means? It means that people in my community will die. They will die because of the decisions you (Ontario) made to not fund this essential service in my community.”
On Tuesday of last week, the province referenced a shooting outside a Toronto facility that killed a mother. As a result, the province is reviewing all sites in the province.
“These reviews will inform the next steps taken by the Ministry of Health,” the ministry told CTV. “Applications for new consumption and treatment sites currently with the ministry are on pause.”
