The city will work to speed up the opening of three safe injection sites and get an antidote that can help reverse the effect of opiate overdoses into the hands of more people, following a string of drug-related deaths.

Mayor John Tory held an emergency meeting with public health officials and first responders on Thursday in the wake of at least six fatal drug overdoses that have occurred in Toronto since last week.

The meeting was ordered after two women were found dead of a suspected drug overdose in Etobicoke on Tuesday night. It was attended by several councillors and the medical officer of health as well as first responders.

“People from time and memorial have used alcohol and drugs and have had issues. We have a choice. We can either let them die in circumstances where they take the wrong drug or take it in unsafe circumstances or we can do things to prevent deaths and I am for preventing deaths because each of these people are somebody’s son, daughter, brother or sister,” Mayor Tory told CP24 in an interview following the meeting.

One of the resolutions made by those present at the meeting was to take steps to speed up the opening of three safe injection sites, which weren’t scheduled to be in operation until November.

As well, a commitment was made to explore the bulk purchase of Naloxone so it can be made more widely available to “all necessary personnel” and to have Toronto police consider the targeted distribution of the drug to some of its officers.

Police Chief Mark Saunders has previously objected to having his officers carry Naloxone because other first responders usually arrive at the site of overdoses first.

Tory, however, said it is his belief that the more broadly the drug is distributed the more likely it will become that the “right person will have it at the right time.”

Naloxone, which can reverse the effects of an opiate overdose, is already in the hands of paramedics and will be given to firefighters in September. Since June, more than 550 people, including staff from 8 city divisions and 150 community agencies, have also received training on how to recognize and respond to an overdose.

“We have a very strong belief at Toronto Public Health that access to Naloxone should be provided to all those who might actually benefit from it, so people who use drugs and even family members and friends of people who use drugs, “ Medical Officer of Health Dr. Eileen de Villa told reporters following the meeting.

In 2013, which is the last year which statistics are available for, 206 people died in Toronto from a drug overdose.

De Villa told reporters that while discouraging residents from using drugs in the first place remains a key part of education campaigns, “harm reduction services” have to be part of the bigger picture.

She said that Torontonians have to “recognize the reality that stopping using drugs isn’t just as simple as saying ‘I am going to stop.’”

Coun. Joe Cressy, who is the chair of Toronto’s drug strategy, agreed, telling CP24 that the city is in the midst of an overdose crisis that is “escalating rapidly.”

“We have had an overdose crisis for a decade. We have seen the number of people dying due to overdoses increasing every year for 10 years and unfortunately this crisis is now escalating rapidly,” he said. “More needs to be done and can be done.”

The other resolutions to come out of the meeting include:

  • Committing to better data sharing about overdose information and tracking whether Naloxone has been used at calls where paramedics have been dispatched
  • Increasing the rate of training for all Toronto Fire firefighters assigned to stations in the areas identified by Toronto Public Health and Toronto Paramedics as the areas for highest calls for service
  • Increasing public education