Drug overdoses in Toronto rising as health experts worry about contaminated street drugs

At St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, emergency room staff have been noticing a startling rise in what they are calling complex overdose cases from opioid use.

In February alone, the hospital’s ER treated roughly 50 overdose cases in a single week, emergency room deputy chief Dr. Garrick Mok said. Usually, that number is 20.

The rise, he believes, is being caused by a toxic batch of street drugs.

“What we are seeing now is that the drug supply is contaminated with medetomidine and when that happens, we will give naloxone, but what happens afterwards is they go into withdrawal, and they require a lot more monitoring.”

The rise in overdose cases is being felt throughout the city, new data from the Toronto Overdose Information System has found. Paramedics responded to 350 calls for suspected non-fatal opioid overdoses in January alone. In 2025, that number was 229.

On Augusta Ave in Toronto, Bill Sinclair, the CEO of the Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site, has also noticed a dramatic rise in visits.

“I don’t know how we are going to keep up, honestly, it’s gotten so much worse so quickly,” said Sinclair.

The centre recorded more than 1,000 visitors in February 2026. In 2025, that number was roughly 500, according to Sinclair.

As part of its services, the centre also offers testing of drugs for individuals. Staff have noticed a large volume of drugs, such as fentanyl, contaminated with medetomidine, which is a tranquilizer intended for use only in animals.

Sinclair said teams like his need more support and funding to keep up with demand and help to keep people alive.

“Recently, we had five people overdose in the same two-hour period. We were able to go out and save those five lives, but we can’t keep up, and we need a whole city and whole province approach because people are dying,” said Sinclair.

Toronto Public Health said they are monitoring the rates of overdoses closely as the situation evolves, although advocates such as Sinclair worry that more support is needed quickly at supervised consumption sites, with concerns that overdose numbers could increase even more by the spring.

At St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, emergency room staff have been noticing a startling rise in what they are calling complex overdose cases from opioid use. In February alone, the hospital’s ER treated roughly 50 overdose cases in a single week, emergency room deputy chief Dr. Garrick Mok said. Usually, that number is 20. The  Local 

At St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, emergency room staff have been noticing a startling rise in what they are calling complex overdose cases from opioid use.

In February alone, the hospital’s ER treated roughly 50 overdose cases in a single week, emergency room deputy chief Dr. Garrick Mok said. Usually, that number is 20.

The rise, he believes, is being caused by a toxic batch of street drugs.

“What we are seeing now is that the drug supply is contaminated with medetomidine and when that happens, we will give naloxone, but what happens afterwards is they go into withdrawal, and they require a lot more monitoring.”

The rise in overdose cases is being felt throughout the city, new data from the Toronto Overdose Information System has found. Paramedics responded to 350 calls for suspected non-fatal opioid overdoses in January alone. In 2025, that number was 229.

On Augusta Ave in Toronto, Bill Sinclair, the CEO of the Neighbourhood Group, which runs the Kensington Market Overdose Prevention Site, has also noticed a dramatic rise in visits.

“I don’t know how we are going to keep up, honestly, it’s gotten so much worse so quickly,” said Sinclair.

The centre recorded more than 1,000 visitors in February 2026. In 2025, that number was roughly 500, according to Sinclair.

As part of its services, the centre also offers testing of drugs for individuals. Staff have noticed a large volume of drugs, such as fentanyl, contaminated with medetomidine, which is a tranquilizer intended for use only in animals.

Sinclair said teams like his need more support and funding to keep up with demand and help to keep people alive.

“Recently, we had five people overdose in the same two-hour period. We were able to go out and save those five lives, but we can’t keep up, and we need a whole city and whole province approach because people are dying,” said Sinclair.

Toronto Public Health said they are monitoring the rates of overdoses closely as the situation evolves, although advocates such as Sinclair worry that more support is needed quickly at supervised consumption sites, with concerns that overdose numbers could increase even more by the spring.