Concerns raised over rise in opioid overdoses in Montreal

The head of a safe injection site in Montreal is raising the alarm about a sudden increase in the number of opioid overdoses and is blaming it on a toxic supply of drugs.

Julien Montreuil, co-creator of L'Anonyme, a mobile safe injection site in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, said they had 10 overdoses last week alone.

L'Anonyme is a small operation and they only have enough room in their van for one person at a time.

For them, 10 overdoses in a week is something they've never experienced before. He says the problem has been getting worse over the course of the last year, but the last month he says it reached another level.

Montreal public health has acknowledged the opioid crisis is getting worse. They say the illicit drug market has become extremely unstable and dangerous since the pandemic.

When COVID-19 forced the closure of the U.S. border, Montreuil said it caused a supply shortage and drug dealers started mixing in fentanyl to make their drugs stronger.

"The problem is when you smoke crack, or you use cocaine or other substances, you don't know if there's fentanyl or some other thing inside. So that's the real problem and that's the problem about overdoses," he said in an interview.

There are four safe injection sites in Montreal and they all offer drug testing. But Montreuil says there is still a stigma around drug use that discourages many people from using the sites and amid an apparent overdose crisis the sites say they don't have enough resources to meet the need.