As fatal overdoses rise, Montrealers are asked to intervene if they see someone in distress
Montreal public health officials are reporting a concerning surge in fatal and non-fatal drug overdoses, particularly linked to the potent opioid carfentanyl. Emergency services have seen record-high interventions involving naloxone, prompting authorities to urge the public to intervene when witnessing someone in distress.
Why it matters
The rise in overdose deaths highlights an escalating public health crisis that challenges local emergency response capacity and necessitates community-based harm reduction strategies.
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.”
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