Overdose emergency in downtown core
On Tuesday, February 6, 2024, Belleville, a small city in southeastern Ontario, faced an overdose emergency that overwhelmed its emergency services. Between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m., paramedics and police responded to 14 overdoses in the city’s downtown core, and received three additional calls later that day. No one died from those overdoses, but the situation was alarming enough to prompt police to issue an advisory urging residents to stay away from the area.
According to Belleville Police Chief Mike Callaghan, most of the overdoses were related to fentanyl, a powerful synthetic opioid that can be lethal even in small doses. He said that some of the drug users may have been unaware of the potency or purity of the substances they were taking, and that there may have been a bad batch of drugs circulating in the city.
Mayor demands ‘larger plan’ to address drug crisis
Belleville Mayor Neil Ellis said that the city is facing a “serious” drug, addictions and mental health crisis that requires more resources and support from the provincial government. He said that the issue is not unique to Belleville, but affects many other municipalities across the province and the country.
Ellis said that the city needs a “larger plan” that focuses on harm reduction and rehabilitation, as well as prevention and enforcement. He said that the city is doing its best to provide services and programs for people struggling with addiction and mental health issues, but that it is not enough.
“We need more beds, we need more detox facilities, we need more mental health workers, we need more outreach workers, we need more safe consumption sites,” Ellis said. “We need a holistic approach to this problem.”
Community response and resources
The overdose emergency in Belleville sparked a response from various community groups and organizations that work with people who use drugs. Some of them offered Naloxone kits, which can reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, and safe injection supplies, which can reduce the risk of infection and contamination. Others provided counselling, support, and referrals to treatment and recovery options.
Some of the community resources available in Belleville for people who use drugs or need help with addiction and mental health issues are:
- The Hastings Prince Edward Public Health Unit, which offers harm reduction services, Naloxone kits, and education on overdose prevention and response.
- The Belleville and Quinte West Community Health Centre, which provides primary health care, mental health and addictions counselling, and a supervised consumption site.
- The Addictions and Mental Health Services Hastings Prince Edward, which offers a range of programs and services for people with substance use and mental health issues, including withdrawal management, residential treatment, and case management.
- The Quinte Health Care Corporation, which operates four hospitals in the region, including the Belleville General Hospital, which has an emergency department and a mental health crisis team.
Future plans and actions
Belleville officials said that they will be working with other emergency and public health services to develop operational scenarios for addressing similar emergency situations in the future. They also said that they will continue to advocate for more funding and support from the provincial and federal governments to tackle the drug crisis.
Chief Callaghan said that the police will also continue to target the drug traffickers and suppliers who are putting lives at risk. He said that the drug unit has been making significant arrests and seizures in the past year, but that the problem is complex and persistent.
“We’re not going to arrest our way out of this problem,” he said. “We need a multi-faceted approach that involves all levels of government and all sectors of the community.”
