Opioid overdoses and deaths drop ‘dramatically’ in Grey-Bruce

Following three years of increases, opioid overdoses dropped in the first quarter of 2025 in Grey-Bruce. CTV London’s Scott Miller reports.

The number of people overdosing on opioids in the region has been increasing since 2017, but this year looks a little different.

“I think we weren’t paying attention to it, and then it did kind of exploded. When we were forced to start paying attention to it, it kind of got worse and worse, but we seem to be on the right track now,” said Monica Blair, Program Manager of Harm Reduction for the Grey-Bruce Health Unit.

Following 174 suspected opioid overdoses and 18 opioid-related deaths in 2023, and 215 overdoses and 23 deaths last year, Grey-Bruce is reporting a dramatic drop in opioid harm in the first quarter of this year. 46 overdoses and 8 deaths from January to March of last year, compared to just 14 overdoses and 1 death, in the first three months of this year.

“The numbers are extremely impressive. We’ve had a 67 per cent decrease in the number of opioid overdoses,” said Francesca Dobbyn, executive director with the United Way of Grey-Bruce.

“Unfortunately, we have had one death, but that’s an 80% drop from last year at the same time.”

Both Blair and Dobbyn attributed the decrease to coordinated, community-driven action. New programs and intentions have finally moved the needle, they believe.

“A 24-hour drop-in centre through the winter months, new programs allowing for drug checking services across the region. We have also seen expanded access to addiction medicine through outreaches, through rapid access addiction medicine clinics all across Grey-Bruce,” said Blair.

“We also have a new drop in clinic space in Owen Sound, and a new wellness and recovery centre that’s run through Brightshores.”

“It’s all of those things that have finally reached that critical mass, as well as a community that is feeling supported and has decided to trust us and say, yes, I’m ready to start a journey of recovery,” added Dobbyn.

Grey-Bruce is really just catching up to the opioid overdose decline happening across Ontario. As an example, the Middlesex-London Health Unit reported 319 suspected opioid overdoses from April to June of 2021, but that number was down to 120 during the same time frame last year.

Across Ontario, opioid overdoses peaked from July to September in 2021 at 4,727. July to September last year, that number was down to 3,207.

“In the first quarter of 2024, 56 opioid alerts were sent out provincially, with six of those being sent out from Grey-Bruce. In the first quarter of this year, we sent only 20 alerts provincially and none required in Grey-Bruce,” said Blair.

“We can’t take our foot off the accelerator here and tap the brakes,” said Dobbyn.

“In terms of services, what we need to do is put the pedal to the metal and just go faster, go harder and just do more, because we know what we’re doing is working,” said Dobbyn.

You can track both Ontario and each public health unit’s opioid harm numbers over the years, by visiting Public Health Ontario’s website.