The toxic drug crisis is Canada’s longest-standing public health emergency, but many are unaware of the brain injury epidemic that underlies it. June is brain injury awareness month , and as researchers investigating the intersections between brain injury, mental health and substance use, we want to shed light on one of the more under-recognized consequences of drug toxicity in Canada. Despite limited surveillance, it is known that 16 Canadians died every day between 2016 and 2023 from toxic drugs, amounting to 42,494 deaths .
That is equivalent to more than the number of passengers in 106 fully loaded Boeing 747SP’s. Beneath these numbers lie thousands of unaccounted survivors with overdose-induced brain injuries — what we refer to as the hidden epidemic. Our research is starting to shed light on the associations between the toxic drug and brain injury crises.
A recent report using data from the United States estimated that the ratio between fatal to non-fatal overdose cases is one to 15, whereas older Australian data suggest ranges from one to 20–30. Using the more conservative one to 15 ratio and applying it to Canadian fatality data , it is possible that more than 600,000 overdose-related brain injuries have occurred in Canada. Unregulated street drugs containing the opioid fentanyl and its analogues can be lethal to human brains.
Synthetic opioids target the brainstem, which controls breathing, and in overabundance can cause respiratory depression — a breathing.
