Police should have naloxone 'sooner rather than later,' mayor says

Toronto Mayor John Tory says he would like to have naloxone, the drug that can act as an antidote to an opioid overdose, in the hands of police officers "sooner rather than later," and will take up the issue with the chief of police when they meet sometimeFriday.

• Toronto may start bulk-buying naloxoneafter spate of opioid overdoses

Tory was speaking a day after he met with health officials, police and other stakeholders about a spate of drug overdoses and deaths that have hit the city. The group came out with numerous recommendations, including the possibility of bulk-buying naloxone and asking Toronto police to reconsider their position on equipping officers with the drug. The force had previously said it had no plans to train and arm officers with it.

Speaking to CBC Radio's Metro Morning on Friday, Tory said representatives of the force that attended Thursday's meeting were open to the idea of having officers in so-called overdose "hotspots" across the city carry naloxone, even in a pilot project.

"We are going to be now hoping to make that happen, and hoping to make it happen sooner rather than later, at least in the hotspots," Tory told Metro Morning.

"But that's up to the chief, in the end. He runs the police service, not me."

On Thursday, Toronto Police Association president Mike McCormack said officers want to carry naloxone, particularly given that they are often among the first to arrive at a 911 call.

• Toronto police union says its officers want to carry naloxone to prevent drug deaths

McCormack saidthere were past concerns about liability, because the drug had to be injected. Now that it's available as a nasal spray, McCormack told CBC Toronto that those worries are unfounded. The drug could also help protect officers who may come into contact with drugs during their shifts.

A spokesperson for Toronto police would not answer questions Thursday about whether the force will reconsider its stance.

'We are very concerned'

Later Friday morning, Dr. Eileende Villa, Toronto's medical officer of health, provided some detail about the scope of the growing problem. Between 2004 and 2015, there was a 73 per cent increase in overdose deaths in the city, she said. And over a one-week period starting on July 27 and ending August 2, there were 94 visits to Toronto emergency rooms for suspected overdoses.

"The issue is having a devastating impact on those who use drugs, their friends and family, our harm reduction and our healthcommunity, our first respondersand many others, all of whom are working tirelessly to provide intervention and support for individuals in crisis," de Villa said during a news conference at city hall.

In March, the city adopted its overdose prevention strategy, which includes the opening of three safe injection sites later this fall. Following Thursday's meeting, officials said they are aiming to shorten that timeline. On Friday, de Villa announced that construction on one of them, a Toronto Public Health site, will begin on Tuesday.

Ramped-up efforts include:

• Since early June, Toronto Public Health has trained550 staff members from more than 150 community agencies to use naloxone.
• TPH has distributed more than 1,000 naloxonekits since January.
• TPH is working to gather and share overdose data as quickly as possible, which will help inform further strategies.

Both de Villa and Coun. Joe Mihevcdenied that the city is unable to deal with the growing overdose crisis. Mihevcnoted that work on bringing safe-injection sites to Toronto has been going on for up to four years, and de Villa said the issue has come up each day since she took the city's top medical job about four months ago.

"There is no magic bullet. We can't solve problems with one fell sweep," de Villa said. "I think it requires a much more nuanced conversation."

'A speeding up of everything'

Neither de Villa nor Tory would say exactly when the city's safe injection sites will open. Tory said earlier Friday that while some community health workers have suggested that the facilities open right now, they can't.

They have to be built, staff have to be trained and there are other steps that must be followed before they can begin operating, he said.

"We are going to open them as fast as we can but the notion of opening them now and just having people there that aren't properly trained and not properly constructed, the building themselves, I just don't think would be entirely responsible," Tory told Metro Morning.

He also said a plan to have some firefighters equipped with naloxone by fall will also have a newer, shorter timeline, and the city will step up training of staff who may be coming in contact with residents at risk of an overdose.

"It really is a speeding up of everything we were doing," he said.

Other next steps include working closely with the province to broaden access to drug treatment programs, including increasing spaces and boosting the number of counsellors and other health workers.

"It is a real shortage given the nature of the problem," Tory said.

"These are realities of the human condition and so our responsibility is to save lives and to try to get people back on track."