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There’s a suspected drug-poisoning death once every nine days in Peterborough and area, according to new data from Peterborough Public Health.

That rate was calculated on average over the last 12 months, although the health unit’s data shows that some recent months had surges: last month saw seven deaths, for example.

“In the Peterborough region, rates of drug poisonings continue to indicate a crisis,” stated medical officer of health Dr. Thomas Piggott in an email Tuesday.

The data shows there were 32 suspected drug-poisoning deaths in the first eight months of 2022 (January to August) in Peterborough city and county — a death rate approaching that of 2021, when there were 44 suspected drug-poisoning deaths for the entire year.

“We strongly encourage those who use drugs to visit the consumption and treatment service (CTS) to ensure they are in a safe space when they use drugs,” Piggott stated.

Supervised drug consumption for people using injection drugs has been offered since June in the former Greyhound station at Simcoe and Aylmer streets in downtown Peterborough — now a hub to help with opioid addiction.

In June and July, CTS officials reported a total of 12 overdoses reversed and 1,000 visits.

However the opioid hub does not have the same service for inhalation drug users. Board of health members heard at a meeting last week that two out of three people who use drugs are using inhalation methods.

CTS manager Kerri Kightley could not be reached for comment about it by The Examiner on short deadline Tuesday.

But earlier this month, activist Crystal Hebert told The Examiner that the Smoke Free Ontario Act — which prohibits smoking in enclosed public places or workplaces, for example — curbs the possibility of offering supervised consumption for inhalation drug users.

She told The Examiner that’s concerning since drugs such as crack cocaine now being tainted with substances like carfentanil.

Hebert founded Tweak Easy, a grassroots organization in Peterborough that has been setting up a semi-enclosed tent once a week downtown where people can use inhalation drugs with volunteers present.

Although Tweak Easy had been crowdfunding to buy supplies — including an ice fishing tent for the winter — GoFundMe shut down the site on Sept. 2 after an article about it was published in The Examiner.

GoFundMe did it on grounds of “prohibited conduct,” though Tweak Easy wasn’t selling drugs but offering “harm reduction, snacks and company,” according to the crowdfunding site.

— with files from Taylor Clysdale, Peterborough This Week, and Alex Schummer, Examiner.

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