Rise in weekend drug overdoses in Ottawa, part of the ongoing national crisis
Ottawa police say nearly two dozen people overdosed on drugs in the nation’s capital over the weekend.
Ottawa police say they responded to 19 drug-related overdoses on Saturday and three more on Sunday morning.
Police say aid workers and civilians have in many cases administered naloxone, a drug that reverses opioid overdoses.
The most recent data from Ottawa Public Health shows there were 117 emergency hospital visits due to opioid overdose in May, the highest number since July 2020.
Last July saw some of the worst results in recent years, with five people dying from suspected opioid overdoses and 98 people hospitalized in just one week.
Neither the police nor Ottawa Public Health would immediately say whether there were any emergency hospital visits or deaths related to the overdoses over the weekend.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on July 10, 2023.
