An alleged drug dealer faces charges after 12 people overdosed on a potentially lethal batch of fentanyl at a supervised injection site in the heart of the city.
Toronto Police say emergency crews were called to The Works — located at Yonge Dundas Square — on Wednesday evening after people started overdosing and couldn’t be resuscitated by naloxone, which can reverse an opioid overdose.
There are currently no fatalities.
“Of particular interest is the fact that despite being administered naloxone, none of the individuals recovered in a way that is typical for a fentanyl overdose,” Supt. Steve Watts, who heads up the Organized Crime Enforcement, said Thursday at police headquarters.
“This leads us to believe that the substance distributed was a mixture of fentanyl and another undetermined substance.”
A sample of the drug has been sent to Health Canada to be analyzed.
A man was arrested for trafficking the drugs soon after police arrived on site.
Whanny Mymuller, 38, is charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime.
“While we arrested one alleged drug dealer, there is the possibility that there are further batches of this substance remaining on our streets,” Watts said.
“As we have stated on numerous occasions, purchasing and ingesting street drugs is truly a form of Russian roulette,” he said. “The risk of public safety ingesting street drugs is critically high.”
Watts said many more people could have overdosed if police weren’t quick to react.
Unlike other jurisdictions, he said Toronto has no safe zone at supervised injection sites.
“We will enforce right up to the doorway and that needs to be done in light of (Wednesday) night,” Watts said.
Toronto’s Medical Officer of Health Eileen de Villa issued a statement saying her office has shared information within the harm reduction community about the tainted local drug supply.
“The events that unfolded clearly demonstrate the need for supervised consumption services and the life-saving benefit they provide,”de Villa said.
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