It was a record-breaking year for suspected overdose-related deaths in Waterloo Region in 2020.
Following those 98 such incidents, 2021 has already shown that the opioid epidemic is running at full steam.
In just one week, Waterloo Regional Police Services responded to 37 suspected drug overdose calls throughout the region. You look at overdose rates, it s outpacing homicides in Canada, soon to be outpacing deaths by suicide, Larkin told the Mike Farwell Show on 570 NEWS on his monthly Ask the Chief segment. The Canadian Chiefs [of police] and the Ontario Chiefs [of police] believe there s a nexus between mental health and drug use.
Larkin said drug use is also connected to larger societal issues other than organized crime, ones that require upstream funding and prevention. Many times those that are found using drugs are stuck in a cycle of drug use, interaction with the law, and being otherwise disadvantaged.
Canada may decriminalise heroin, cocaine and all other hard drugs after suffering record overdose deaths
Updated: 1 Feb 2021, 11:55
CANADA is considering decriminalising heroin, cocaine and all other hard drugs after a record year for overdose deaths, a government official has announced.
The country s drug overdose death rate for the first half of 2020 - 14.6 per 100,000 people - was the highest since records began in 2016.
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Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing pressure to rein in the spiraling drug overdosesCredit: AP:Associated Press
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is facing pressure to rein in the soaring drug overdoses, although he has previously downplayed decriminalisation.
Vancouver has asked the federal government to exempt the city from part of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, which would decriminalise the possession of small amounts of drugs in the city.
Toronto Public Health issued a drug alert Saturday after the city s paramedic services received the highest number of suspected opioid overdose calls in a 24-hour period since monitoring began in 2017.