Nearly 400 people in Ontario died of opioid overdose last summer, says province

TORONTO -- The province says nearly 400 Ontarians died from opioid overdoses last summer.

Public Health Ontario has released updated statistics that indicate 388 people died from opioid-related causes from July to September 2018, down from 414 deaths during the same period in 2017.

In all, the statistics show 1,022 people died in Ontario over the first nine months of 2018.

In 2017, a total of 1,261 people died from an opioid overdose -- an increase from 2016, when 867 people died.

The latest figures are the most recent statistics available from Public Health Ontario.

They also show that there were 2,544 emergency departments visits due to overdoses across the province last summer, down from 2,664 visits during that time frame a year before.