EDMONTON —
Canada’s street supply of opioids is becoming increasingly toxic, unpredictable and contaminated thanks to ultra-potent and deadly mixtures of fentanyl, prompting renewed calls for safe supply programs that could help regain control of the drug supply and save lives.
It’s believed pandemic border closures have played a role in disrupting the supply chain, prompting the creation of new, more lethal cocktails.
“We’re absolutely losing control of the drug supply, and it’s causing people to die,” Karen McDonald, lead of the Toronto drug-checking service operated by St. Michael’s Hospital, told CTV National News.
“Fentanyl can be used safely … but it can’t be used safely when you have no idea how much fentanyl is in it.”
Launched in 2019 in response to the growing opioid epidemic, Toronto’s anonymous drug-checking service offers drug users detailed information on the contents of their drugs in a bid to reduce overdoses.
McDonald says the lab has been detecting an increasing number of ultra-potent opioids – drug mixtures that are considered to be 80-100 times stronger than fentanyl alone – in recent months, as well as a spike in suspected overdose deaths.
Many of these drugs are mixed with opioids that are that were synthesized in the 1950s to relieve pain but never actually made it to market.
“Fentanyl is already considered a high-potency opioid – it’s five to 10 times more potent than morphine. And now what we’re seeing is drugs that are even stronger than fentanyl presenting in fentanyl,” she said.
“It’s unexpected by the people that are going to be using them.”
The use of fentanyl, cannabis and methamphetamines spiked across cities in Canada during the early pandemic, according to Statistics Canada’s Canadian Wastewater Survey, which analyzed wastewater in major cities. Researchers say this may be a strong contributing factor to the spike in overdose-related deaths last year.
According to the study, the amount of fentanyl detected in Toronto’s wastewater supply tripled early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Per-capita loads of fentanyl in Vancouver were more than four times higher than in any other city, with detectable loads jumping 66 per cent between March and July 2020 compared to last year.
But the pandemic is not entirely to blame. Alberta reported an increase in ultra-potent opioids as early as 2019, putting programs like McDonald’s on high alert and prompting calls for regulated, government-supported safe drug programs.
“The supply is the issue,” McDonald said, noting that this is the nature of an unregulated drug supply; there are no recipes, no dosage recommendations for those addicted to opioids.
“There are some safer opioid programs that are starting to be introduced. This is like a form of regulation. A person with an opioid dependency would be transitioned off of the street [supply] and onto a pharmaceutical supply.”
Those living the realities of opioid dependency are also calling for increased education and overdose training within shelters and other areas users frequent.
Angie Austin watched her partner of 16 years, Oliver Smith, die of a suspected overdose in Toronto at a city-run shelter.
“I couldn’t feel no air coming out of his mouth, so i started to shake him and telling him to wake up,” Austin told CTV National News. “It took 26 minutes for the ambulance to arrive – I timed it.”
Austin says there was no oxygen available on-site – a factor some say could prevent deaths.
“If people just had some basic overdose response training and you were allowed to use oxygen, we would see far fewer fatalities,” Sarah Grieg, Moss Park consumption and treatment service program manager in Toronto, told CTV National News.
“We also need access to safer supply. Injectable heroin, fentanyl, pharmaceutical-grade recommended doses [of each] so that there’s not the adulterants that are polluting people and poisoning people.”
Toronto city shelters are not required to have oxygen on-site but are required to have Naloxone, a medication used to counteract the effects of opioids. Staff are trained in how to administer Naloxone; however, the City of Toronto would not say whether Naloxone was used in Smith’s case.
VANCOUVER – Contract negotiations resume today in Vancouver in a labour dispute that has paralyzed container cargo shipping at British Columbia’s ports since Monday.
The BC Maritime Employers Association and International Longshore and Warehouse Union Local 514 are scheduled to meet for the next three days in mediated talks to try to break a deadlock in negotiations.
The union, which represents more than 700 longshore supervisors at ports, including Vancouver, Prince Rupert and Nanaimo, has been without a contract since March last year.
The latest talks come after employers locked out workers in response to what it said was “strike activity” by union members.
The start of the lockout was then followed by several days of no engagement between the two parties, prompting federal Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon to speak with leaders on both sides, asking them to restart talks.
MacKinnon had said that the talks were “progressing at an insufficient pace, indicating a concerning absence of urgency from the parties involved” — a sentiment echoed by several business groups across Canada.
In a joint letter, more than 100 organizations, including the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, Business Council of Canada and associations representing industries from automotive and fertilizer to retail and mining, urged the government to do whatever it takes to end the work stoppage.
“While we acknowledge efforts to continue with mediation, parties have not been able to come to a negotiated agreement,” the letter says. “So, the federal government must take decisive action, using every tool at its disposal to resolve this dispute and limit the damage caused by this disruption.
“We simply cannot afford to once again put Canadian businesses at risk, which in turn puts Canadian livelihoods at risk.”
In the meantime, the union says it has filed a complaint to the Canada Industrial Relations Board against the employers, alleging the association threatened to pull existing conditions out of the last contract in direct contact with its members.
“The BCMEA is trying to undermine the union by attempting to turn members against its democratically elected leadership and bargaining committee — despite the fact that the BCMEA knows full well we received a 96 per cent mandate to take job action if needed,” union president Frank Morena said in a statement.
The employers have responded by calling the complaint “another meritless claim,” adding the final offer to the union that includes a 19.2 per cent wage increase over a four-year term remains on the table.
“The final offer has been on the table for over a week and represents a fair and balanced proposal for employees, and if accepted would end this dispute,” the employers’ statement says. “The offer does not require any concessions from the union.”
The union says the offer does not address the key issue of staffing requirement at the terminals as the port introduces more automation to cargo loading and unloading, which could potentially require fewer workers to operate than older systems.
The Port of Vancouver is the largest in Canada and has seen a number of labour disruptions, including two instances involving the rail and grain storage sectors earlier this year.
A 13-day strike by another group of workers at the port last year resulted in the disruption of a significant amount of shipping and trade.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
The Royal Canadian Legion says a new partnership with e-commerce giant Amazon is helping boost its veterans’ fund, and will hopefully expand its donor base in the digital world.
Since the Oct. 25 launch of its Amazon.ca storefront, the legion says it has received nearly 10,000 orders for poppies.
Online shoppers can order lapel poppies on Amazon in exchange for donations or buy items such as “We Remember” lawn signs, Remembrance Day pins and other accessories, with all proceeds going to the legion’s Poppy Trust Fund for Canadian veterans and their families.
Nujma Bond, the legion’s national spokesperson, said the organization sees this move as keeping up with modern purchasing habits.
“As the world around us evolves we have been looking at different ways to distribute poppies and to make it easier for people to access them,” she said in an interview.
“This is definitely a way to reach a wider number of Canadians of all ages. And certainly younger Canadians are much more active on the web, on social media in general, so we’re also engaging in that way.”
Al Plume, a member of a legion branch in Trenton, Ont., said the online store can also help with outreach to veterans who are far from home.
“For veterans that are overseas and are away, (or) can’t get to a store they can order them online, it’s Amazon.” Plume said.
Plume spent 35 years in the military with the Royal Engineers, and retired eight years ago. He said making sure veterans are looked after is his passion.
“I’ve seen the struggles that our veterans have had with Veterans Affairs … and that’s why I got involved, with making sure that the people get to them and help the veterans with their paperwork.”
But the message about the Amazon storefront didn’t appear to reach all of the legion’s locations, with volunteers at Branch 179 on Vancouver’s Commercial Drive saying they hadn’t heard about the online push.
Holly Paddon, the branch’s poppy campaign co-ordinator and bartender, said the Amazon partnership never came up in meetings with other legion volunteers and officials.
“I work at the legion, I work with the Vancouver poppy office and I go to the meetings for the Vancouver poppy campaign — which includes all the legions in Vancouver — and not once has this been mentioned,” she said.
Paddon said the initiative is a great idea, but she would like to have known more about it.
The legion also sells a larger collection of items at poppystore.ca.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 9, 2024.
