A new study examining data from the Ontario coroner's office and other sources indicates opioid-related deaths in the province's shelters more than tripled during the COVID-19 pandemic, when compared with a few years prior. The study conducted by researchers from the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network at Toronto's St. Michael’s Hospital and Public Health Ontario found there were 210 accidental opioid deaths in shelters between January 2018 and May 2022.
It found 48 of those deaths took place before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in mid-March 2020, and 162 were recorded after. Dr. Tara Gomes, a lead author of the study and principal investigator with the Ontario Drug Policy Research Network, said Ontario in general saw an increase in opioid-related deaths during the pandemic, but that increase was more rapid in shelters.
Many of those deaths were driven by the illicit drug supply, including fentanyl and benzodiazepines, which are sedatives, she said. Researchers found that many overdose deaths at shelters were also related to the use of methamphetamine, which is a stimulant that some people use to counter sedation effects from illicit opioids. "It's actually quite a dangerous situation where the illicit supply has become really unpredictable, really sedating with the different substances that are in it," Gomes said in a phone interview.
"So people are having to adapt their use and use other drugs, like stimulants such as methamphetamines, to counteract those effects. And .