6 suspected overdose deaths reported in Toronto over 4 days as new potent drugs found in unregulated supply – CTV
March 19, 2024
Toronto Public Health (TPH) is alerting the public after paramedics recently responded to six suspected opioid overdose-related deaths.
The health unit said that the number of people who died of a drug overdose between March 14 and 17 is triple the current average seen over a four-day period in the past 12 weeks. The deaths occured throughout the city, public health said.
And while it is not known at this point exactly what substances those who died consumed, TPH’s bulletin made mention of the recent identification of two high-potency synthetic painkillers in the city’s unregulated drug supply.
The “new” drugs found are nitazene opioids and were detected in drug samples collected by Toronto’s Drug Checking Service, a free and anonymous public health service that is offered at five harm reduction agencies in the downtown core.
The first substance, N-desethyl etonitazene, is considered to be up to 10 times stronger than fentanyl.
