The opioid crisis exacting a deadly toll across Canada is hitting home in London.

As the mayors of 10 Ontario cities met Monday in Toronto to discuss the growing threat of drugs such as fentanyl and heroin, London police issued a public warning following eight drug overdoses, one of them fatal, over a two-day period.

Eight people who overdosed after injecting or ingesting drugs in six separate incidents between Friday afternoon and Sunday afternoon required emergency medical treatment, police said.

In four incidents, individuals said they used fentanyl or heroin.

Fentanyl is highly addictive and so powerful that even exposure to the powder through the air can lead to overdose symptoms.

“One individual died as a result of a suspected overdose,” London police said in a rare public warning.

“We want to remind the public of the risk of using drugs, particularly opioids,” spokesperson Const. Sandasha Bough said Monday.

“You never know exactly what’s in that particular drug.”

Police are assisting the coroner in a death investigation, Bough said.

Mayor Matt Brown is one of 13 members of a national mayors’ task force on the opioid crisis.

“We have an opioid crisis in Canada, and one locally as well,” he said.

Brown said he couldn’t attend the meeting of mayors in Toronto because city council’s strategic priorities and policy committee also met Monday.

But he said the opioid issue is a priority for him.

Brown said he recently visited supervised injection sites in Vancouver.

Advocates for users say the sites help to reduce overdose deaths and the spread of diseases because clean needles are used.

“I’ve been watching very closely and been very supportive of our community as we explore supervised injection sites as a potential part of the solution,” Brown said.

Sean Pranger, a duty manager for Middlesex-London EMS, said eight overdose calls in a single weekend isn’t common, but it’s not unprecedented either.

“Drug overdoses are fairly common and I’d say they’re becoming more common,” he said. “There are a lot of opioid overdoes that we deal with.”

Chris Mackie, London’s medical officer of health, praised London police for issuing the warning.

“I think they are about right. We identified (opioid use) as a major problem in our community.”

The Middlesex-London Health Unit has been working with partners in the community to address the crisis, he said.

The health unit has developed a program to distribute naloxone, a nasal spray that can reverse an opioid overdose for up to an hour, Mackie said.

“It’s saved lives. We’ve seen it used dozens of times in our community.”

On Monday, Health Minister Eric Hoskins announced $15-­million funding to hire more addiction and mental health workers and to distribute more naloxone kits.

The opioid scourge has seen 412 Ontarians die of overdoses in the first six months of last year — an 11-per-cent increase from the previous year.

“It’s a tragedy that’s impacting families in every community in Ontario,” Hoskins said.

The province will distribute nearly 80,000 more naloxone kits a year through community outreach organizations, Hoskins said

“This new program will ensure that . . . hopefully every person who is at risk of an opioid overdose has access to naloxone,” he said.

Thousands of naloxone kits have already been dispensed free of charge at pharmacies, public health units, needle exchange and hepatitis C programs, as well as provincial correctional facilities.

Earlier this month, the OPP announced frontline officers will be given naloxone kits and officers will be required to wear protective gear on drug busts.

Part of the funding announced Monday will go toward hiring more front-line workers in every public health unit in the province.

Premier Kathleen Wynne said it’s important for municipalities to share information and expertise on dealing with opioids, as well as let the province know what gaps exist so it can work to close them.

With files from Free Press Reporter Charlie Pinkerton