Real-time overdose data an urgent priority in order to prevent Toronto fentanyl crisis, Tory says

One of the most critical items on Toronto's drug action plan will be to obtain real-time data on the number of opioid-related deaths here and the number of overdoses over all, Mayor John Tory says.

Speaking to reporters Monday, Tory said he was "horrified" by the fact that 128 drug-related deaths sweptVancouver in November and noted that Toronto still has torelyon on 2015 numbers.

"We've got to do better than this," Tory said remarking on the fact that month-to-month data aboutopioiddeaths are still not available in the city.

• Toronto prepares for potential epidemic of fentanyl overdoses
• Record number of Ontario fentanyl deaths in 2015, new data from chief coroner's office shows

Tory gathered with members of 20 different organizations Monday for the first meeting of what's been dubbed the Toronto Overdose Early Warning and Alert Partnershipto consider what the city can do to prevent fentanyl use from hitting crisis levels here.

'Be ready'

Toronto Public Health hosted themeetingtogether with police, paramedics, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, drug users, the coroner's office and community service providers. The aim was to share information in orderto develop a strategy to prevent an opioid epidemic in Toronto.

Toronto mayor on fighting fentanyl crisis

8 years ago

Duration 5:05

As opioid crisis spreads east, Toronto holds an emergency meeting.

"Currently each of these groups knows a part of the overdose story ... but we do not have a complete picture," acting medical officer of health Dr. Barbara Yaffe said.

The meeting followed a recent conversation between Tory and Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson as that city continues to grapple with a major fentanyl crisis. Robertson, he said, told him to "be ready" for fatal overdosesto rise in this city.

The chief coroner for Ontario reports thatfentanylwas involved in 165 deaths in the province in 2015. That's only a slight rise compared to the previous year,but it's almost double the 86 deaths documented in 2010.

Increased naloxone distribution, access to currentdata among aims

Fentanyl is a powerful synthetic opioid commonly prescribed as pain medication, which is now being increasingly found in street drugs across Canada. According to the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, fentanyl is between 50 and80 times more powerful than morphine.

Among the measures considered Monday, Tory said, were:

• Working toward accessing month-to-month data on overdoses and death
• Increasing the availability of naloxone. Tory likened the importance of naloxone kits to the ubiquity of EpiPens

Earlier Monday, the province announced its commitment to fund three supervised injection sites in Toronto at an estimated annual cost of $1.6 million, on top of $400,000 to create the spaces. Coun. Joe Cressycalled the move "a critical and necessary step."

Yaffewill providean update to the Toronto Board of Health about the city's overdose action plan on Jan. 23. A full plan will be presentedto the board on Mar. 20, the acting medical officer of health said.