Health-care professionals are scrambling to support the most vulnerable people in the Kenora, Ont., area following a surge of more than 60 drug poisonings over a two-day period.
The Northwestern Health Unit (NWHU) issued separate drug alerts, which aim to inform people who use drugs and community members of potentially toxic substances circulating in the region.
The health unit described the clodesnitazene as a synthetic nitazene opioid, detected in a sample of a rock-like solid, that also tested positive for ethylbromazolam (a benzodiazepine), carfentanil, medetomidine (an animal tranquillizer), caffeine and dimethylsulphone.
Clodesnitazene was first detected by Toronto’s Drug Checking Service on April 28.
“The sample tested from our region was from May 15, 2026,” the NWHU’s website says. “Reports provided to NWHU show 17 suspected drug-related deaths in our region between May 1, 2026 and Aug. 25, 2026, eight of which occurred in May.”
While Kenora has been hit the hardest, there has also been an uptick in overdoses in Atikokan and Ignace, the health unit said. Drug alerts are often shared in drop-in centres and by word of mouth through outreach workers.
Shelly McLarty, manager of the NWHU’s sexual health and outreach services program, said the clodesnitazene indicates a concerning trend.
“The results may imply we could be seeing substances found in larger centres like Toronto in our region much quicker than previously thought. Normally, we see stuff go along the Trans-Canada Highway and it’ll go from Manitoba, Thunder Bay.”
Last year, the NWHU had the fourth-highest opioid-related death rate by public health unit region in the province, according to Ontario’s Office of the Chief Coroner.
In the top spot, the Thunder Bay District Health Unit had a rate of more than five times the provincial average in 2025.
The Kenora Indigenous-led Homelessness and Addiction Recovery Treatment (HART Hub) offers services out of the Canadian Mental Health Association’s office. This model, introduced by the Ontario government in January 2025, is targeted at those experiencing homelessness, substance use, mental health challenges and other complex needs.
That said, more than 130 people are part of a Facebook group that’s been advocating for a supervised consumption site to open in Kenora. These sites allow people to use drugs in the presence of health-care professionals.
Thunder Bay’s HART Hub celebrated a grand opening at its new location on Monday. There are currently no supervised consumption sites open in northern Ontario following the closure of Path 525 in Thunder Bay at the end of March 2025, prompted by new provincial rules about how close supervised consumption sites could be to schools and child-care settings.
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Last week’s dramatic rise in drug poisonings in the Kenora area prompted responses from the NWHU, Ontario Provincial Police, emergency medical services and Waasegiizhig Nanaandawe’iyewigamig (WNHAC), an organization that serves Indigenous people, families and communities.
Megan Wesley, WNHAC’s interprofessional team manager, said her team on Friday handled 29 overdoses, eight of which required CPR.
“We’re seeing people that are very difficult to rouse, people that have stopped breathing,” Wesley said. “A lot of these people are requiring multiple doses of naloxone in order to reverse the effects of the overdose, so I’m up to as many as six doses.”
Naloxone is used to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose and doesn’t work on non-opioid substances.
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While no deaths have been confirmed from this surge of poisonings, the combination of several different drugs is making it harder to respond, Wesley said.
“It’s taken a heavy emotional toll on my team. I’m really proud of them for the way they came together. They saved a lot of lives on Friday, but it is really taking a toll on them emotionally.”
The health unit’s advice for people using drugs is to “start low and go slow,” McLarty said.
“Use a small amount and see how it affects you, especially if you’ve not used that type of drug before,” she continued.
People are being urged to use new drug equipment to prevent the risk of infection, and are discouraged from using drugs alone.
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Drug test strips are available for free through the NWHU, and naloxone kits can also be accessed at no cost through both the health unit and local pharmacies, McLarty said.
People can also use the free LifeguardConnect app on their mobile device to set a timer that alerts emergency medical services of their location if it’s not turned off, signalling a potential overdose.
Another option is to call the National Overdose Response Service, staffed by people who can call 911 if needed.
