Holiday Overdose Calls in Toronto Jump 35 Percent Compared With Previous Years

Toronto Public Health is sounding the alarm after a spike in opioid overdose calls in the city throughout the holiday season.

Toronto Paramedic Services responded to 122 suspected cases of opioid overdoses between Dec. 20 and Dec. 28, marking a 35 percent rise from the average call volume for similar periods in the past two years, the public health department said in a Dec. 29 alert.

The increase in calls did not lead to a similar escalation in fatalities, however. Public health said there were fewer than five deaths associated with opioids, a figure that matches last year’s count.

The alert also pointed to an increase in the average number of daily calls in December compared to the previous 11 months of 2025, noting that overdoses are “occurring throughout the city.”

“The holiday season can be a challenging time for some,” the advisory reads. “Feelings of stress or social isolation may intensify at this time of year, which can affect people’s substance use.”

City data shows paramedics received 736 opioid overdose calls between Sept. 8 and Nov. 30. Twenty-seven of the overdoses were fatal.

In November alone, paramedics responded to 281 non-fatal and 10 fatal calls for suspected opiate overdoses. December statistics have yet to be released. There were also 1,241 substance related hospital visits in November and 230 suspected overdose cases.

‘Contaminated’ Drug Supply

Public health said the city is also grappling with the “contamination and unpredictability of the unregulated opioid supply,” pointing to Toronto’s Drug Checking Service data.

The statistics indicate that samples expected to be fentanyl contain significantly higher than usual concentrations of para-fluorofentanyl, a drug that possesses a potency comparable to fentanyl, but can be up to twice as potent in certain instances.

“The average amount of the para-fluorofentanyl found in expected fentanyl samples this reporting period is significantly higher than what we typically find,” the drug checking service said in a Dec. 26 report. “This may mean stronger fentanyl is circulating in our community.”

Eighty-eight percent of the expected fentanyl samples contained fluorofentanyl and 34 percent contained “multiple high-potency opioids,” including carfentanil, a methylfentanyl-related drug, and/or protodesnitazene.

Carfentanil is an extremely potent fentanyl-related drug, regarded as being up to 100 times more powerful than fentanyl, 4,000 times stronger than heroin, and 10,000 times more potent than morphine.

Methylfentany belongs to a group of more than 14 highly potent fentanyl-related drugs, with most considered to be approximately as strong as or up to 10 times stronger than fentanyl while protodesnitazene is a synthetic nitazene opioid of high potency, deemed to be as strong as fentanyl.

Toronto’s Drug Checking Service also found that 81 percent of the fentanyl samples it analyzed between Dec. 13 and 26 contained medetomidine, an anesthetic commonly used by veterinarians that is dangerous to humans.

Medetomidine may induce extreme drowsiness, a decreased heart rate, low blood pressure, a very faint or non-existent pulse, and hallucinations, the service said in an information pamphlet about the drug. Withdrawal can lead to dangerously elevated blood pressure.

“Medetomidine is currently found in 3 of every 4 fentanyl samples checked by Toronto’s Drug Checking Service,” the pamphlet reads. “We should assume medetomidine is just as common in our fentanyl supply.”

Toronto’s Drug Checking Service statistics also indicate that the majority of the heroin samples and more than 40 percent of the crack cocaine samples it tested had been mixed with other drugs.