Guelph police report 3 overdose deaths in 36 hours

Guelph police and local health officials continue to sound the alarm amid a spike in overdose deaths in the city.

On Wednesday, police announced officers had responded to several overdoses in the past 36 hours and at least three people had died.

Since the last week of April, there have been at least six deaths in Guelph connected to suspected drug overdoses.

Guelph’s outreach organizations have been trying to respond to the overdose spike, but the coronavirus pandemic has created some challenges.

In an interview on May 8, Raechelle Devereaux, executive director of the Guelph Community Health Centre, said her organization is seeing two crises negatively interfering with each other.

Devereaux pointed to self-isolation guidelines conflicting with advice that drug users should never use alone and that those who want to use the safe-injection site may have to wait outside.

The drug supply is also being impacted by the pandemic, whether it’s drugs containing different ingredients or a user’s drug of choice becoming unavailable and prompting them to try something else, she added.

Devereaux said local organizations are trying to come up with more creative outreach methods, such as creating teams consisting of nurses and peer outreach workers going to into a hotel where the city’s homeless have been staying after many shelters closed due to the pandemic.

5:16 Naloxone kits and how to use them

The teams would also work in some of Guelph’s more vulnerable apartment buildings, Devereaux said.

Health officials are still urging drug users to always carry naloxone and use the “start low and go slow” method, which means starting with one-third of a normal dose.

More information on harm reduction can be found online.