Canada: Toronto experiences 73 percent spike in drug overdose deaths over the past decade

Toronto police issued a public safety alert concerning the safety of nightclubs Rebel and Uniun after they received a call about a medical complaint at Rebel nightclub on Saturday, according to media reports.

A 24-year-old woman was rushed to hospital after collapsing at Uniun nightclub on Adelaide Street West, and later pronounced dead Saturday morning, according to Toronto police.

Police said another woman at the club also collapsed and was taken to hospital in serious condition.

In December 2016, said the police, a woman died of overdoses at an electronic dance music concert at the waterfront venue.

INK Entertainment, the owner of both clubs, had been fully cooperating with the police investigation.

Toronto Public Health (TPH) said that overdose deaths In Toronto have increased by 73 percent over the past decade and it has planned to widely distribute life-saving naloxone kits in its new Overdose Action Plan.

TPH said that opioids like heroin and fentanyl are largely responsible for the accidental deaths in Toronto because these opioids can prove fatal even in small doses.

The deadly opioid carfentanil was found in Richmond Hill earlier this year, said York Regional Police.

Toronto police Const. David Hopkinson said he was waiting for the toxicology reports to confirm what these overdose patients had actually taken on Friday night and added it was also unclear if all the cases were linked.

More and more opioids, reported CBCNews, were being mixed with other drugs in Toronto and recreational drug users were ignorant what they were taking.

"We are seeing almost at a daily basis now that, when we perform tests at our biological lab... individuals are getting exposed to drugs and they have no idea," said Dr. Bernard Le Foll, a clinician scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto.

"A single pill can kill you," he said.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj,Image: Wikimedia Commons)