Sault Ste. Marie no longer holds the top spot provincially for opioid-related death rates, as it has been overtaken by some health units that had their supervised consumption sites closed down or will be closing in the near future.
On Tuesday, the Office of the Chief Coroner released opioid mortality statistics for the third quarter of 2024, which includes July, August and September.
While the Algoma Public Health unit has held the top spot in opioid mortality for a number of quarters, the most recent data has it situated in fifth place behind Thunder Bay Health, Timiskaming Health, Northwestern Health, Porcupine Health, as well as the Sudbury and District Health Unit.
For Algoma, the death rate in Q3 was recorded as just over seven per 100,000, down from almost 10 per 100,000 in the previous quarter.
The death rates in most other northern Ontario communities also fell during the same time period. The exception was Thunder Bay, which climbed from 13 per 100,000 in Q2 to 18 in Q3 — an almost 40 per cent increase.
Safe Health Site Timmins, which is located within the Porcupine Public Health unit, closed its doors on July 1, 2024. The Spot, Sudbury’s only sanctioned supervised consumption site, closed in March of last year.
Path 525 in Thunder Bay is set to close its supervised consumption space next month by order of the Ontario PC government. It was chosen as one of nine safe drug consumption sites that will transition into a Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment hub.
Sault Ste. Marie has also been selected for a HART hub, after an announcement last month by outgoing MPP Ross Romano.
Looking at statistics for municipalities, not health units, Sault Ste. Marie is third in the province for opioid mortality rate for Q3, behind Thunder Bay and Timmins.
Data from the chief coroner shows 30 people died as a result of opioid toxicity between January and September of 2024. Fentanyl continues to contribute to the majority of opioid toxicity deaths, recorded at over 85 per cent since 2023.