Faced with the rising number of young people dying from drug overdoses, opioids or other substances, the Parti Québécois (PQ) is calling for immediate action and is committed to implementing solutions to reverse the trend. PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon is currently sponsoring a petition to better protect young people. His party is also promising additional investments in prevention campaigns, as well as additional resources for CLSCs and schools. St-Pierre Plamondon is alarmed by the disturbing statistics, but above all, he was moved by the testimony at his constituency office of a mother who lost her son to an overdose. A phenomenon is spreading: young people can order synthetic drugs online without knowing what they really contain, which can have dire, even fatal, consequences. “This is a little-known issue that needs to be brought out into the open,” argued St-Pierre Plamondon in an interview with The Canadian Press broadcast on Sunday. “It’s tragic. It can happen in any family, in any region of Quebec. The numbers are rising substantially.” Since 2019, the number of young people under the age of 29 who have died from poisoning that may have been caused by opioids or other drugs has increased by 26 per cent. Between April 2024 and March 2025, 72 of the 638 people who died from suspected opioid or other drug poisoning were under the age of 29. Also, between 2020 and 2024, emergency interventions in supervised consumption and injection services increased dramatically. The average number of visits rose from 20 per month to 144 per month. The PQ leader wants to reverse the trend. He is committed to increasing resources in CLSCs and schools to combat addiction. He also wants to invest more in prevention and awareness campaigns. Similarly, he is calling for stricter prescription rules to reduce overprescribing of drugs. Overprescribing can lead to addiction and the use of more harmful drugs. Finally, he wants to see “a medical approach to the opioid crisis prioritized,” which means better collaboration between the health-care system, community organizations and schools, as well as better care for people suffering from addiction. The petition will be available on the National Assembly website from Monday until Nov. 24. This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Sept. 28, 2025.
