as fatal overdoses rise, montrealers are asked to intervene if they see someone in distress

montreal public health is sounding the alarm on overdoses in the city as deaths related to drug consumption trend upward.there were 22 deaths in june and 13 have been recorded in july so far as the city grapples with a sustained increase in non-fatal overdoses that has spanned three to four months, the agency said. while it didn't share precise data, it said there have been as many ambulance interventions for overdoses this year so far as there were for all of 2025."this trend is continuing, it is concerning and it is sustained," dr. david kaiser, associate medical director of montreal public health, said during a news conference thursday. "as soon as we saw this signal at the end of june and beginning of july that seems to indicate an increased number of deaths, we wanted to put an emphasis on that."at least eight overdose deaths since april have been related to the consumption of carfentanyl, an opioid about 100 times more potent than fentanyl, kaiser said."that for us is really an important component for people to know." urgences-santé data, meanwhile, shows an increase in interventions during which the antidote naloxone was administered to reverse an overdose over the past few months. there were 10 interventions in january, 14 in february, 24 in march, 45 in april, 47 in may, 42 in june, and 30 in july up to tuesday."if this continues, (july) will be a record month," said spokesperson geneviève poirier. "as of now, the monthly records in april and may are the highest since data collection began in 2015. ... june was still quite high at 42, which is also the highest number observed for that month, a level that was also reached in 2024." poirier said in her experience, overdose interventions are typically concentrated downtown and in the east end. "but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t happen elsewhere," she said. kaiser said public health doesn't have "all the answers" to explain the upward trends, "neither for the total number of overdoses, nor for the fatal overdoses." "that being said, we see that there are constantly new toxic substances coming into the drug supply, and that clearly explains part of it," he said.scientific literature also suggests that the risk of severe overdoses increases during hot spells like those montreal has seen this summer, kaiser said. "we can't say with certainty that that is directly involved, but i think it's important to have in mind because there are things we can do to reduce that risk," he said. "when you combine heat and substance use, the people who are going to be most at risk are people who are in the street or don't have a shelter to get back to where they can get a little respite from the heat." public health has noticed an increase over the past month in fatal overdoses occurring in public places specifically."these are people who may have been seen by passersby, or cases where we noted that there was an opportunity to intervene, and despite that we ultimately recorded their deaths ... from an overdose that could have been reversed," kaiser said. the agency is asking drug users to be prudent by not using alone, especially as more toxic substances become available. it's also calling on montrealers to intervene if they come across a person who appears to be overdosing by calling emergency services, staying until help arrives, and administering naloxone if possible. "somebody who is having trouble breathing, has kind of a gurgly breathing, not breathing at all, is really out of it? that person should not be left alone," kaiser said. "from the moment that somebody lays eyes on them, we need to make sure that they are doing better before they are left to their own devices." kthomas@postmedia.com