The use of Opioid drugs in the Windsor Essex Community is up sharply.
A report from the Windsor Essex County Health unit last week found the death rate from opioid related cases was double the provincial rate.
Now the Director of Development at Brentwood Recovery Home says the number of opioid cases they're seeing is up 20% this year.
Mark Lennox told AM800 listeners on the Lynn Martin Show there are no limits in this explosion of cases.
He says age is no barrier to the problem since they're bringing in people as young as 16 and these drugs are coming at these kids from every direction.
Lennox says the newest danger in the mix of drugs on the street is proving fatal: "the new fentanyls being mixed in are so deadly frankly the dealers and even their upper echelons they can't mix it or cut it properly. If you get a grain of sand you're OK, if you get a grain and a bit it'll kill you"
He says often young people are stealing opioid drugs from their own homes giving the example of somone reacvering from oral surgery getting a prescription and not using all of the pills.
Lennox urges parents to take better care when locking away dangerous pain killers.