“It is a crisis in the community and that needs to be addressed now.”
Those are the words from Belleville Police Chief Mike Callaghan regarding an “alarming rate” of overdoses in the community over the last week.
Community leaders joined Callaghan at a press conference at the Belleville Police Headquarters on Tuesday, warning of a dramatic increase of opioid-related calls and overdoses and a tainted drug supply.
On average, Hastings Quinte Paramedics Services respond to five to 10 opioid-related calls in a week.
In the last week, paramedics say they have responded to over 90 opioid-related calls with the majority in the Belleville area.
“Some of them are fentanyl that are laced with GHP and some of them are heroin that are laced with GHP.” Callaghan said of the drug supply that is in the community.
GHP (gamma-hydroxybutyrate), also known as the date rape drug, is a type of depressant for the nervous system that mixed with fentanyl and other contaminants can be fatal.
“Unfortunately, last Friday morning, we lost a member of the community as a result of these drugs and he was not able to be revived.” Callaghan said.
Belleville Police have commenced a criminal investigation to determine where the source of the drugs are coming from and have made arrests in relation to the drug trade in the community.
The dramatic increase in opioid-related calls and overdoses in the community is affecting services across the Belleville area.
“The Belleville General Hospital team has provided support to 42 people who have overdosed in our community, that’s in the (last) nine days,” President and CEO of Quinte Health, Stacey Daub, tells media.
“So when my colleagues talk about this being historic and catastrophic event, it certainly is.”
Daub says those being admitted are not faceless numbers but real people.
“It can be easy to overlook this issue and think it only affects the unfortunate souls actively caught in the darkest cycles of addiction and consider it something that doesn’t touch our own lives or the lives of our loved ones. But we sit here today to remind you that it’s relevant to all of us,” Daub explained.
“You cannot witness this without acknowledging that it is a tragedy and crisis and today is a call to action.”
Belleville Fire and Emergency Services helps with calls in partnership with Hastings Quinte Paramedics Services.
“As of late, fire services responded to an ever increasing number of drug overdoses and opioid usage emergencies through the downtown core and across our city,” Belleville Fire Chief Dan Smith said to media.
“Over the last several weeks, unbeknownst to first responders, several of the calls for service resulted in not one but multiple patients at one time.”
Also in attendance were Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis and the head of Belleville’s Police Services Board, Tyler Allsopp.
Both acknowledged the crisis on hand and thanked community leaders for their work in addressing it.
Callaghan finished saying the group will work collaboratively to come up with solutions to address the crisis.
“So today is the first step forward in ensuring we put the think tank together. I can assure you that this will not be the last meeting that this group has as we move forward on this issue.” Callaghan said.
When asked about the potential of an urgent public health needs site or a supervised consumption site, the Medical Officer of Health for Hastings-Prince Edward said all options would be considered.
“I don’t want to preclude work that would be done by the think tank coming together but these are absolutely tools that should be considered, as well as anything else that we can find and put our heads together because this issue is so big,” Dr. Ethan Toumishay said.
“These are absolutely tools that we’ve seen in communities that may be working and things that we’ll have to think about moving forward.”
When asked on how the drugs are being brought into the community, Callaghan says its difficult to track.
“We know that the drugs are coming into our community from multiple sources and it is a challenge that we struggled to work on and continue because when you tend to deal with one individual and the seizure and the arrests are made, it’s not long before another individual picks up on that drug trade and then continues on,” Callaghan said.
“So we work on that and we strive to do the best we can with the resources we have, but it’s an incredibly difficult situation.”
Following the media event, Dr. Toumishay released a statement about the ongoing crisis in Belleville.
It is strongly recommended to not use alone and to have multiple Naloxone kits available.
If you have to use alone, the National Overdose Response Service is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They can be called at 1-888-688-6677.
