Opioid-related deaths not surprising to Sudbury harm reduction workers

The high rate of opioid-related deaths in northern Ontario, and in Greater Sudbury, are not a surprise for people who work in harm reduction.

On Tuesday, new data from Ontario's Office of the Chief Coroner revealed that Public Health Sudbury and Districts had an opioid death rate of 52.9 per 100,000 people from April 2021 to March 2022.

In Ontario, the region's opioid death rate was second only to Thunder Bay, which had an opioid death rate of 82.1 per 100,000 people in the same period.

"We're responding to overdoses on a regular basis," said Heidi Eisenhauer, the executive director of Réseau Access Network in Sudbury, which is a non-profit organization dedicated to harm reduction.

"So the opioid-related deaths and the drug poisoning crisis is something that's been right at our door and so this is not new news to us. This is just, you know, a reflection of what we see currently."

The coroner's data showed there were 2,795 opioid-related deaths in Ontario from April 2021 to March 2022, and 2,727 deaths during the first year of the pandemic.

In 2019, the coroner's office found 1,559 Ontarians died of opioids.

But the new data has also shown the death rate in the first quarter of 2022 dropped by 10 per cent, compared to the 2021 death rate for Ontario.

"It is very hard when we continue to see a pattern that continues to get worse," Dr. Dirk Huyer, Ontario's chief coroner, told CBC News.

"What I do is try to share this information in the most effective way and the most impactful way, and hopefully impact change."

Fewer resources in the north

Eisenhauer, of Réseau Access Network, said that overall, marginalized people in northern Ontario have access to fewer support services than people in the southern parts of the province.

"Our folks that are oppressed and marginalized on the streets have less access to services, less access to housing, less access to shelters, less access to health care," she said. 

"So it's that systemic issue of a lack of support services that we see."

Réseau Access Network will operate a supervised consumption site in Sudbury, which will have medical professionals on site to help prevent overdoses and respond quickly if someone experiences one.

Following some delays, Eisenhauer said the site is due to open in early September.

"We're just in the final stages. All the staffing requirements have been met," she said.

Eisenhauer added supervised consumption sites provide evidence-based interventions that save lives.

Evie Alie, the executive director of the Go-Give Project in Sudbury, said many of the vulnerable people she works with are anxiously waiting for the site to open.

The Go-Give Project is a registered charity that provides mobile outreach and harm reduction to people experiencing homelessness.

"At this time without treatment plans and programs and things readily available, all we can do is really look at lessening the harms and preventing overdoses until more sustainable solutions are in place," Ali said.

She said the extent of the opioid crisis has been evident to her and Go-Give Project's volunteers.

"We're witnessing at least, you know, two to three overdoses a week on charity hours," she said.

The organization does outreach between the hours of 9 p.m. and 2 a.m.