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Health unit issues alert following 11 opioid overdoses in one week

A spike in opioid overdoses within one week has led the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit to issue an alert to the community. 

This is the 9th opioid-related alert issued this year

CBC News ·
Two plastic bottles of pills shown spilling contents out on a table, close up.
Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Carolyn Bennett says doctors should be more willing to prescribe pharmaceutical-grade alternatives to street drugs, citing it a document by the B.C. College of Physicians and Doctors that says it will better support patients (Eric Baradat/AFP/Getty Images)

A spike in opioid overdoses within one week has led the Windsor-Essex County Health Unit (WECHU) to issue an alert to the community. 

The alert from the health unit's Windsor-Essex Community Opioid and Substance Strategy (WECOSS) said that local hospitals reported 11 opioid overdoses between Nov. 3 to Nov. 9 and that four of these involved fentanyl. 

This is the 9th opioid-related alert issued by the health unit this year. 

The WECHU is working on establishing a supervised consumption and treatment site in downtown Windsor. In August, the health unit's CEO said if and when government approval is granted, the facility could be up and running in months.

Windsor-Essex saw a 21 per cent increase in fatal overdoses in 2021 compared with 2020, according to provincial data.

In total, 86 people lost their lives to opioid overdoses last year.

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