St. Thomas Police responded to five suspected overdoses within one hour on Monday, October 26th. Everyone affected was taken to hospital for treatment.
Police and Southwestern Public Health (SWPH), the health unit for St. Thomas, Elgin and Oxford, both put out warnings on Tuesday, October 27th. They say the drug involved was a white substance suspected to contain fentanyl. Reports from the local hospital suggest it may also contain ketamine. SWPH has issued a drug watch for the City of St. Thomas and Elgin County that runs until Friday, November 6th, “as the drug supply changes constantly.”
It is the second drug watch SWPH has posted for this area in 2026. The first, on June 24th, covered Elgin and Oxford after community partners and people who use substances reported samples of crystal meth and cocaine testing positive for xylazine, fentanyl and benzodiazepines on drug test strips. That notice also reported “an increase in reported overdoses and drug-related deaths in the area,” and it ended on July 4th. Before that, the last one SWPH posted for the region was in June 2025, for carfentanil.
Fentanyl and ketamine together may cause severe sedation, unconsciousness, and slowed or stopped breathing, and the effects can be unpredictable. An overdose involving fentanyl may need more than one dose of naloxone, the medicine that can temporarily reverse an opioid overdose.
St. Thomas Police do not publish how often officers give naloxone. It appears in their daily media releases only when they choose to describe a call: on October 16th, for example, they reported giving it in two separate incidents, including three doses for one woman who then regained consciousness. Neither the police service’s 2025 annual report nor the paramedic service’s latest quarterly report to Elgin County council counts overdose calls or naloxone use, and the paramedic section of SWPH’s opioid dashboard is marked “Coming Soon.” There is no public figure for how often it happens here.
SWPH tracks deaths and emergency room visits linked to opioids on its Opioid Monitoring Dashboard, last updated October 13th. These figures cover the whole health unit region, St. Thomas, Elgin and Oxford together, not the city alone. Deaths are confirmed only up to 2024, so nothing on the dashboard covers this week’s overdoses. In 2024, the region had 12.5 deaths from opioids for every 100,000 people, up from 9.0 in 2023. That was lower than Ontario’s rate of 14.0, and lower than the region’s peak of 19.2 in 2021.
Emergency room visits linked to opioids climbed for years before turning around. Public Health Ontario’s figures for the health unit region go back to 2015, when there were 49 such visits. The number rose almost every year after that, to 341 in 2021. Since then the trend has been down, though not in a straight line: visits jumped again in 2023, then fell to 137 in 2024 and 146 in 2025. Those were the region’s lowest rates since 2016, about 59 visits for every 100,000 people in 2025, close to Ontario’s 56.
If you see an overdose, call 911 right away. Give naloxone if you think it is an opioid overdose, and be ready to give more than one dose. SWPH says calling 911 and starting CPR right away are critical. Stay with the person until paramedics arrive, and if possible they should go to hospital with the paramedics. SWPH notes that the Good Samaritan Drug Overdose Act protects people who call 911 for someone having an overdose. Naloxone only helps if someone is there to give it. SWPH’s drug watch lists the National Overdose Response Service, 1-888-688-6677, a free, confidential line open 24 hours for people who might otherwise be alone; the person on the line stays on the phone and calls for emergency help if it is needed.
SWPH gives out free naloxone kits and training. Its St. Thomas office is at 1230 Talbot Street, open Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 4:30pm, 519-631-9900. Its mobile outreach service covers Elgin County. Call or text 226-377-7968 to arrange a drop-off or pick-up of harm reduction supplies, or for naloxone training. The province’s free naloxone map shows pharmacies and community groups that hand out kits. Not every pharmacy has them in stock, so call ahead.
For help with addiction, the St. Thomas RAAM Clinic at 475 Talbot Street offers addiction medicine, including treatment for opioid use, and OHIP covers it. It is open on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, with hours that vary by day, and you can walk in or call 519-631-9040. Reach Out 24/7 answers mental health and addiction calls and texts at any hour, 519-433-2023. More local services, with hours and addresses, are on the LocVox Get Help page.
SWPH is asking anyone who hears or sees something related to this watch to email harmreduction@swpublichealth.ca.
Sources: Southwestern Public Health: Drug Watch for the City of St. Thomas and Elgin County · St. Thomas Police: Drug Alert, St. Thomas · Southwestern Public Health: Opioids and overdose prevention · Public Health Ontario: Substance Use and Harms Tool
By Anthony Zruna · About the LocVox Newsroom
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