KENORA / THUNDER BAY – September 17, 2026 – Health officials have issued four drug alerts in Northwestern Ontario in less than a week, after more than 60 poisonings in the Kenora area over two days and further cases in Atikokan, Ignace and Thunder Bay.
The Northwestern Health Unit first warned about a fentanyl-like product sold as “down,” then about clodesnitazene, a synthetic nitazene first detected in Toronto in April and later found in a regional sample mixed with a benzodiazepine, carfentanil and the animal tranquillizer medetomidine. NorWest Community Health Centres in Thunder Bay issued a separate alert after an OxyContin pill tested positive for etonitazene.
The Thunder Bay district still has the highest opioid-related death rate in Ontario, more than five times the provincial average in 2025. NWHU ranked fourth among public-health units last year.
Police in Thunder Bay also wrapped a six-day back-to-school traffic blitz that produced 276 charges, including more than 100 speeding tickets, five stunt-driving counts and three impaired-driving charges. Thirty wildfires remain active in the Northwest Fire Region, with no new starts reported this week.
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