Officials suspect 'new deadly substance' is causing spike in overdoses in Hamilton

Hamilton Public Health Services (HPHS) saida "new deadly substance" is likely causing a rise in suspected opioid-related overdoses.

HPHS issued an alerton Friday after seeing an increase in paramedic calls for possible overdoses between last Monday and last Thursday.

Melissa Biksa, the manager of sexual health andsubstancemisuse prevention with the city, said there were 18 calls to paramedics. It's unclear if any of those suspected overdoses were lethal, as the city doesn't receive death data in real-time. She also saidit was also taking more naloxone kits than expected to reverse the effects.

Lori Regenstreif, an addiction medicine physician, added that while the number of overdoses was the main reason for the alert.

"That's why we put the alert out so quickly without knowing what exactly we're dealing with yet."

New drug may be mixed into other substances

Regenstreiflisted a number of scenarios that could be leading people to overdose.

The first is people who use stimulants, like cocaine, are getting a supply that has the new drug or opioid mixed inside.

"While lots of people mix stimulants and opioids, some people only use stimulants, so theydon't have an opioid tolerance ... atalcum-powdered sized grain [of opioids]could kill you because you don't have any tolerance."

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Regenstreif also said this could be a stronger batch of opioids coming froma new source.

The otherscenarios are opioids likefentanylgetting contaminatedwith benzodiazepineslikeetizolam, or people use fentanyl and Xanax together.

"If somebody has got respiratory arrest, and they've had a lot of opioids on board and they've got a bunch of benzos, giving them naloxone won't reverse the effects of the benzos, it will only reverse the opioid,"Regenstreif said.

Opioid deaths on track to match or surpass 2019

This followsreports in late October of a pink-colouredfentanylcausing overdoses in Hamilton and across the province.

Since January, paramedics have responded to502 suspected opioid-related overdoses. As of July, 67 deaths in the city are believed to have beenoverdoses.

"We're on track to either be about the same as 2019 or slightly exceed that ... we're definitely on the same trajectory,"Biksa said.

Public health has advice for anyone who uses the substance:

• If using the drug,do not do it alone.
• If using the drug, ensure you havenaloxonepresent.
• If using the drug, start with a small amount to test the effect.
• If someone is overdosing, usenaloxone and call 911.