Toronto continues to be in the midst of a drug toxicity epidemic. The unregulated drug supply is unpredictable, increasingly toxic, and currently dominated by fentanyl. The unregulated fentanyl supply contains varying concentrations of fentanyl, as well as unexpected drugs such as benzodiazepines.
Toronto Public Health is taking action to prevent overdose deaths, and operates the city’s first supervised consumption service, providing a safer environment for people to inject their own drugs under the supervision of trained health professionals.
We also worked with partners to develop Our Health, Our City: A Mental Health, Substance Use, Harm Reduction and Treatment Strategy for Toronto which is a comprehensive strategy to reduce substance use related harms and promote mental health and well-being. Toronto Public Health continuously provides updates to the Board of Health on actions to address the drug toxicity epidemic.