The Windsor-Essex Community Opioid and Substance Strategy has issued an alert because of a high number of recent drug overdoses.
The Health Unit says there were 20 drug related emergency department visits over a 5-day period between July 17th and the 21st.
The substances involved have not been determined but the health unit is working with Windsor Regional Hospital to confirm the drugs being used.
Eric Nadalin, Manager of Chronic Disease and Injury Prevention, says this is to make sure the community is aware.
"We just want to make the community aware that there is a spike in overdoses in case these are linked in some way. And we want people who uses substances to be aware that they may be at an increased risk of of an overdose as a result."
Nadalin says they're looking into whether this involves the same drug.
"We don't necessarily have verification of a specific substance that could have caused these overdoses. But we're working with the hospital to get some more information and certainly if there is a linkage between them we'll communicate that to the public as well."
An alert is triggered when the count of ER visits exceeds the running average by two standard deviations or more over a specified period.
Public Health Ontario says 48 people in Windsor-Essex died from opioid related causes in 2018, the highest number ever recorded.
The data also shows The Erie St. Clair LHIN, which includes Windsor-Essex, has the highest rate of opioid prescriptions in all of Ontario.