An analysis of newly obtained data on opioid overdoses across the country — including numbers from provincial coroners, street drug tests in Ontario and B.C., and a previously unpublished national drug user survey — reveals a national crisis spiking into uncharted territory during the pandemic.
Toxic Supply
Street drug supplies across Canada are being increasingly contaminated with a new category of “ultra-potent” opioids as overdose deaths soar.
The presence of these synthetic opioids — some far more powerful than fentanyl — has quadrupled in tests of street drugs in Toronto, from less than one per cent before the COVID-19 pandemic to four per cent, a Toronto Star and Investigative Journalism Bureau (IJB) investigation has found.
Border closures and drug supply chain disruptions are blamed by researchers for creating a cocktail of new drugs and compounds.
Giovanni Capriotti for the Toronto Star
Here's what happened to overdose deaths in Toronto neighbourhoods with safe consumption sites
As opioid overdoses continue to ravage Ontario, Toronto neighbourhoods with supervised consumption sites have seen dramatic decreases in drug fatalities, a new study shows.
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Tamara Grant, 51, runs a supervised injection site out of her west-end apartment. She's reversed over 60 overdoses since the pandemic began. No one has died under her watch, she said. DECLAN KEOGH / IJB
New ‘ultra potent’ opioids hitting Toronto streets in recent weeks as overdose deaths mount
An analysis of newly obtained data on opioid overdoses across the country — including numbers from provincial coroners, street drug tests in Ontario and B.C., and a previously unpublished national drug user survey — reveals a national crisis spiking into uncharted territory during the pandemic.
View storyIJB Audio Brief: Toxic Supply
IJB reporter Mashal Butt explains our investigation into Canada's toxic illicit drug supply
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The opioid crisis has been raging, with deaths surging in Toronto, climbing 80 per cent from 2019 to 2020. MARK LENNIHAN / AP
Opioid crisis: How Toronto’s street drug supply is getting more dangerous
The opioid crisis has been raging and new research shows that Toronto’s street supply of drugs is growing more toxic, stronger and potentially more deadly. We look at the opioid crisis now and explore how these drugs are more dangerous than ever.
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