Urgences-Santé grapples with rise in opioid overdoses
Community groups are asking province to put together plan to fight opioid addiction
Working on the front lines, paramedics with Urgences-Santé have seen firsthand the growing problem of opioid overdoses in Montreal.
"We are concerned about what's happening to our citizens here in Montreal and in the area," said Stephan Gascon, a spokesperson for Urgences-Santé.
There were 88 opioid overdoses on Urgences-Santé's Quebec territory in the past three months, with 54 of them being in downtown and Montreal's Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood.
The overdoses occurred between Aug. 18 and Nov. 27.
Many of the overdoses were linked to fenanyl, heroine or one of their derivatives.
Gascon said the rise in overdoses is a sign of increased awareness and reporting, not that the city is headed towards a crisis point.
He said what Montreal is seeing still doesn't come close to the kind of opioid crisis being felt in other parts of the country, like Vancouver.
Opioid action plan needed, community group says
Urgences-Santé has used of the opioid antidote naloxone has doubled from April to September 2017, compared with that same period in 2016.
However, Cactus Montréal, a community organization for the prevention of blood-borne and sexually transmitted infections, wants to see better access to naloxone in Quebec.
Its chairman, Louis Letellier de St-Just, said the province has bowed to pressure to make naloxone available in pharmacies and wants to see police officers carry it next.
"We are still waiting for a full plan for the opioid crisis," said Letellier de St-Just.
Urgences-Santé added that most overdoses occurred Friday and Saturday, and that the group most affected is between 20 and 30 years old.
With files from Sudha Krishnan