Rates of opioid-related emergency room visits in Orillia surpass the rest of Simcoe-Muskoka, where hospital visits stemming from the potentially deadly painkillers exceed provincial averages.

“Orillia is significantly higher than Simcoe-Muskoka, which is significantly higher than Ontario,” Dr. Lisa Simon, associate medical officer of health for the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit said this week. “It’s quite dramatic.”

Sold both in prescription form and illegally on the street or online, opioids like fentanyl are depressant drugs that slow down the part of the brain that controls breathing.

Emergency room visits for opioid overdoses and related medical care in Orillia are outpacing the region and the province, Simon told council.

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“It is not just the one person that it involves, it is whole families that it tears apart,” said Coun. Pat Hehn, recounting the story of a local woman whose life was ruined by opioids.

While the number of opioid deaths in Ontario rose relatively gradually between 2005 and 2015, Simcoe-Muskoka experienced a markedly sharp increase in opioid deaths over the same period.

Between 2012 and 2015, an average of 35 people died from opioid use in this region annually, with fentanyl playing a role in approximately one quarter of the deaths.

In 2015, 43 people in the region died from opioid use, with males between the ages of 25 and 44 accounting for more than any other demographic.

While opioid use reaches across all income groups, lower-income residents are “considerably” more at risk, Simon added.

The health unit supports a multipronged strategy involving partners across the region to help address an issue that has hit communities across Canada.