Ontario’s Chief Coroner, Dr. Dirk Huyer said that in Ontario, Fentanyl has played a role in about 30 per cent of overdose deaths in 2015 and the drug is likely to become more common in the coming months and years.
The total number of fentanyl deaths in Ontario has already seen an increase from 154 in 2014 and 86 in 2010.
The chief Coroner took part in a two-day training symposium organised by Ontario_Association_of_Chiefs_of_Police (OACP) that aims to educate 450 front-line police and border patrol officers on what officials are calling ‘one of the most significant health and safety crisis in Ontario today’ – the abuse and overdose of opioids.
Huyer said,“Clearly it is a health problem that needs to be dealt with in multiple ways and there needs to be multiple disciplines contributing to the strategy.”