{"id":20653,"date":"2026-02-07T13:20:22","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T12:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/?p=20653"},"modified":"2026-02-07T13:20:22","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T12:20:22","slug":"quebec-launches-remote-service-to-prevent-drug-overdoses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/2026\/02\/quebec-launches-remote-service-to-prevent-drug-overdoses\/","title":{"rendered":"Quebec launches remote service to prevent drug overdoses"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Corinne Boyer – Montreal City News – January 25, 2026\u00a0<\/span><\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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A new remote service has launched in Quebec to help prevent drug overdoses, offering callers access to counselors by phone or video in a province grappling with rising overdose deaths.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Quebec\u2019s overdose crisis has reached alarming levels. A report from the province\u2019s institute for public health shows there were 645 drug overdose deaths in 2024 alone, with projections for 2025 expected to exceed 600.<\/span><\/p>\n

Drugs: Help and Referral<\/em>\u00a0recently introduced the Remote Service for Overdose Prevention (RSOP) to provide immediate support for those at risk.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn Canada, we\u2019ve seen a decrease of overdoses, in Quebec, we\u2019ve seen the opposite!\u201d said David Galipeau, assistant coordinator at RSOP.<\/span><\/p>\n

RSOP counselors follow a structured approach, explaining rules to callers, obtaining consent to contact emergency services if necessary, assessing overdose risk, providing wellness checks when there\u2019s no immediate danger, and deleting personal information once the call ends to maintain anonymity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHere is really a support,\u201d said Galipeau. \u201cSo the person could just use substances completely in silence and will just be there and monitor and see if the person is still well and then punctually just check up on the person. We stay on the phone throughout the entire time. But sometimes, the person just wants to talk about what they\u2019re feeling. Sometimes, it can bring out some emotions and stuff like that. Then we can intervene and we can support those types of cases. But the person can choose the level of which, the support that they get from our team.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Counselors emphasize that the service is not about stopping drug use but preventing fatal overdoses.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not there to tell them what to do, we\u2019re not there to stop them from using the drug, we\u2019re not asking them to stop, we\u2019re just asking them to do it with someone, to not do it alone,\u201d said Karelle Chevrier, addiction counselor at RSOP.<\/span><\/p>\n

Officials note that most overdose-related deaths in Quebec occur when people use drugs alone at home, which significantly increases the risk of a fatal outcome.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDrug usage in general is very stigmatized in society, and some people, due to that stigmatization and self-stigmatization as well, experience loneliness,\u201d said Galipeau. \u201cIt leads them to use substances alone in their house or elsewhere in the city in secluded areas.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe danger when we do it alone is so high and we just don\u2019t want people to die basically so just call us to do it with us and we won\u2019t judge you,\u201d added Chevrier. \u201cWe\u2019ll be there for you and we\u2019re not going to tell you what to do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After the pilot project launched in June 2025 proved successful, RSOP has grown to nearly 30 employees handling 120 to 160 calls a day, with recent spikes reaching 200 daily calls.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFrequency is slowly going up but it\u2019s more the number of different people that is becoming bigger faster and also we did lose some of our callers because they ended up going to our other program so they used with us and then they stopped using and now they moved on to the regular line where they can talk about how they want to keep sober and they want to stay sober and they want to go to therapy,\u201d said Chevrier.<\/span><\/p>\n

The service is free, confidential, bilingual, and available seven days a week from 11 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. Callers can connect with an RSOP counselor by contacting\u00a0Drugs: Help and Referral at 1-800-265-2626\u00a0and choosing option 2.<\/span><\/p>\n

Source: https:\/\/montreal.citynews.ca\/2026\/01\/25\/quebec-launches-remote-service-drug-overdoses\/<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Corinne Boyer – Montreal City News – January 25, 2026\u00a0 A new remote service has launched in Quebec to help prevent drug overdoses, offering callers access to counselors by phone or video in a province grappling with rising overdose deaths. Quebec\u2019s overdose crisis has reached alarming levels. A report from the province\u2019s institute for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73,16,68,141,142,135,40,36],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-addiction","category-canada","category-drug-use-various-effects","category-harm-reduction-research","category-latest-news","category-opioids","category-prevention-research","category-treatment-addiction"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20653"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20654,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20653\/revisions\/20654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/drugprevent.org.uk\/ppp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}