Hamilton top ten opioid users

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A new study finds there have been more opioid-related deaths in the Hamilton area over a five-year period, than anywhere else in the province. The study released Thursday, suggests opioid related deaths in the city are double the provincial average and it places Hamilton among Ontario’s top ten users of the addictive drugs.

The study was conducted by the Ontario drug policy research network, a team that includes researchers from medical schools across the province, including McMaster. They found there were 444 deaths caused by the prescription drugs in Hamilton, Niagara, Haldimand and Brant from 2009 through 2013. The study’s lead researcher says the problem stems from how easily opiods are prescribed in the province.

“A lot of people have the misconception around prescription drugs, that they are inherently safe because they’ve been given to you by a doctor, people don’t realize this is just another way of providing heroin.” Tara Gomes, lead researcher.

The researchers also found a total of 638 people died in 2013 from opioid overdoses. That’s a rate of about one in every 20 000 deaths in the province. This comes after the first liquid fentanyl seizure in Canada was made in Hamilton.