Statistics compiled by Toronto Public Health reveal opioid overdoses and deaths in Toronto occur along geographic and apparently economic lines. The map below, re-published by City News from health department files, shows very light use of such medications in affluent areas of Midtown like South Bayview. Reported overdose calls in places such as Leaside, Davisville, Moore Park and other area neighborhoods ranged between 5 to 16 during a monitored period from August 2017 to August 2018. Other parts of the City, particularly downtown, show a much higher crisis occurence of both overdoses and deaths. Paramedics received 358 calls for suspected opioid overdoses in the Church-Yonge corridor, 337 in Moss Park, and 158 in the Bay St. corridor. Some 1,250 people have died from opioid overdoses in the province in the last 15 years— an increase of 246 per cent — numbers from Public Health Ontario show. One in four opioid-related deaths in Ontario occurred in the City, Toronto Health says.
