The Addiction Crisis in Belleville

Belleville, Ontario declared a state of emergency over its mental health, addiction, and homelessness crisis in early 2024, triggered by a surge of overdoses — including 16 overdose calls in a single day on February 6, 2024, with 13 incidents occurring within a single 60-minute window. More than a year later, conditions have worsened: the homeless population has grown from roughly 200 to 300. The drug supply is heavily contaminated with fentanyl, often laced with benzodiazepines or animal tranquilizers (xylazine). Police launched multiple major trafficking enforcement operations throughout 2025. A new 22-hour-a-day support hub (the Bridge Hart Hub, a converted banquet hall) is under development and expected to open in 2026, funded by $6.3 million per year from the province for three years. The Hastings-Quinte region recorded 50 suspected drug-related deaths and 371 opioid-related paramedic calls in 2023, with an opioid-related ER visit rate of 245 per 100,000 — more than 2.5 times the Ontario provincial rate of 94 per 100,000.

Canada recorded approximately 7,560 apparent opioid toxicity deaths in 2023, according to the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) — roughly 21 deaths every day. Ontario accounted for approximately 35% of all national opioid deaths that year. The contaminated drug supply, particularly fentanyl adulterated with benzodiazepines and xylazine, has made naloxone alone insufficient for reversing many overdoses, worsening survival rates even when first responders arrive quickly.

01. What is happening in Belleville

02. A crisis that did not start this month

Ontario recorded 2,639 opioid deaths in 2023 and 2,231 in 2024 — a roughly 15% decline, though deaths remain well above pre-pandemic levels. The mortality rate was 14.3 deaths per 100,000 in 2024, down from a peak of 19.4 per 100,000 in 2021. Fentanyl or fentanyl analogues were present in more than 83% of opioid toxicity deaths in 2024. Prescription benzodiazepines were detected in 45% of deaths — a sharp increase from 33% the prior year, reflecting the growing threat of benzodiazepine-adulterated drug supplies. Men account for 75% of deaths provincewide, and one in five opioid overdose deaths occurs among people experiencing homelessness.

03. Why is it getting worse?

The Belleville crisis is driven by several converging factors: (1) a heavily contaminated illicit drug supply dominated by fentanyl, increasingly cut with benzodiazepines and xylazine (an animal tranquilizer), making overdoses harder to reverse; (2) a severe housing and homelessness crisis — the unsheltered population nearly doubled from ~200 to ~300 in one year — concentrating risk among the most vulnerable; (3) organized drug trafficking networks that police dismantled multiple times in 2025 without eliminating the supply; (4) limited 24/7 harm reduction infrastructure (as of 2025, the city had only one daytime drop-in centre); and (5) geographic and socioeconomic factors common across smaller Ontario cities — distance from major urban services, limited treatment capacity, and high poverty rates.

04. Where hope still lives

Communities across Ontario are responding with naloxone distribution, harm reduction programs, and peer support networks. Every person trained in naloxone use is a potential life saved.

05. In the news

The reporting behind this page:

• Belleville remains under a state of emergency with little hope on the horizonCBC News · 2025
• Belleville, Ont., declares addiction emergency after latest overdose surgeCBC News · 2024
• Belleville service hub for those struggling with addiction, homelessness to open in 2026CBC News · 2025
• 15 arrested in major drug trafficking investigation in BellevilleQuinte News · December 2025
• Belleville opioid emergency/crisis: timeline of responses and actionsOpen Council · 2024-2025
• More than 2,200 died of opioids in Ontario last year as numbers trend downwardCBC News · 2025