An overdose alert has been issued for Waterloo Region after dozens of overdoes were reported over the first few days of the month.
The alert was issued by the Waterloo Region Integrated Drug Strategy after 31 reported incidents between August 31 and September 3.
WRIDS did not point to a specific substance as being the issue, but did say that there could be an increased risk of death from drug toxicity during very hot weather.
Get daily Kitchener news
It noted that cooling centres are open across the region for those in need of respite from the heat.
WRIDS updated its dashboard on Wednesday, as 41 people have now died in the area this year as a result of overdoses.
In 2022, that number came in at 89, which was well below the 112 reported a year earlier.
According to the region, there has been a total of 920 overdoses reported in the area this year, which seems to be just slightly below last year’s pace as there were 1,269 overdoses in the area a year ago.