Ontario is establishing an opioid emergency task force to provide advice on how to combat the growing overdose crisis.
The provincial government says the task force will include front-line workers in harm reduction, addiction medicine, and community-based mental health and addiction services to provide what it describes as ``critical insight about what is happening on the ground.''
It says the task force will support the province's co-ordinated response to the crisis, which claimed the lives of 865 people in Ontario last year.
It will also advise the government on a targeted public education campaign to raise awareness about the risks associated with opioid use and how people can protect themselves from overdose.