Officers from Toronto police’s 14 Division are canvassing the area, warning residents of dangerous narcotics being sold in the downtown core that resulted in the deaths of seven people over the last 12 days.
Toronto Const. Eddie O’Toole told CTV News Toronto that they don’t expect people to stop using drugs. Their goal is to ensure that the community feels safe and knows what to do in the event of an emergency.
“They’re losing family members. They’re losing friends. It’s tough on them, but they also don’t want to talk to the police,” O’Toole said. “Some of them we’ve known for years and it does take an effect on us also because we see them every day.”
“They are not bad people. They are good people who just have addictions and it is tough to get off.”
O’Toole hopes that the presence of the officers and the education they are providing will help reduce the number of overdoses in the neighbourhood.
Toronto police issued a public safety alert Tuesday evening in relation to a batch of dangerous narcotics being sold in the downtown core. In a news release, police said that since Aug. 2, officers responded to multiple overdoses in 14 Division, bordered by Dufferin Street, Jameson Avenue, Dupont Street, Spadina Avenue and the waterfront.
Seven people died as a result of the overdoses. Investigators believe the drugs responsible for the deaths are fentanyl or carfentanil.
“It’s a very large number and we are concerned,” Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson said. “The amount of these drugs that it takes to kill a human is extremely small.”
Toronto City Councillor Joe Cressy, whose ward is within those boundaries, told CP24 that he is tired of having to talk about overdose deaths in the city.
“We’ve been talking about overdose deaths in this city for four years and it is getting worse every year,” he said on Tuesday. “I am tired of people dying needlessly. I am tired of the fearmongering. I’m just tired.”
The public safety alert issued by police comes two day after the Ontario government announced they were halting the opening of three new temporary overdose-prevention sites. Health Minister Christine Elliott made the decision after saying she heard evidence that suggested the sites were not effective and that she wanted to consult neighbours.
The Toronto Overdose Prevention Society (TOPS) vehemently opposes the move.
“No one had died at an overdose-prevention site or supervised injection site anywhere in the world, ever,” the organization said in a news release. “In the midst of this crisis, we still do not have 24 hour, seven days a week coverage in Toronto. We need to be expanding services, not reducing them like the Minister of Health has just done.”
TOPS also said that one of the overdose-prevention sites put on hold by the provincial government was meant to open on Aug. 13 in the area where the seven deaths occurred.
According to Cressy, about 12,000 people visited one of the 12 overdose-prevention sites in the city over the last 12 months and there were no fatal overdoses.
“They keep people alive so they have a chance to access treatment . When you put a pause on these sites, like the provincial government has done, you put a pause on the delivery of life-saving health care.”
Zoe Dodd, a harm-reduction worker with TOPS, said there has been a spike in overdoses throughout the summer and there is a need for overdose-prevention sites as part of the city’s public health response to the opioid crisis.
“This crisis is taking the lives of many, many people and it is not just numbers,” she told CTV News Toronto. “It is people and people who are connected to other people who we love and you know, they don’t come back.”
Toronto Mayor John Tory spoke with reporters on Wednesday, saying that his “heart sank” when he heard about the deaths.
“What we face in this city right now in regards to mental health and addiction issues is a crisis. It is a growing crisis and if affects more people than it ever did before and it is taking more lives,” he said. “I can’t believe that people don’t strongly believe that we should be doing whatever we can to say that never again in a week should we see anywhere in this country, but in Toronto, seven people die of drug overdoses in less than a week.”
In 2017, there were 303 people who died of an opioid overdose in Toronto. More than 1,200 died in Ontario.
Police are urging drug users who experience physical illness to go to an emergency room or a walk-in clinic immediately for treatment.
-With files from CTV News Toronto's Crime Reporter Tamara Cherry
