A shelter in B.C.’s Cowichan Valley ran out of naloxone last week after the area saw an estimated 80 toxic drug poisonings in a 24-hour period, according to officials.

Erin Kapela, executive director of the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) Cowichan Valley Branch, said reports of “a very high number of overdoses” at a Duncan shelter it operates, as well as the surrounding area, started pouring in on the evening of Nov. 18.

“We've never experienced something quite like that,” she told CBC’s All Points West .

“It was really scary.”

The Warmland House Shelter in Duncan, B.C., responded to a sharp increase in toxic drug poisonings on Nov. 18. (Google Maps)

The Island Health Authority confirmed in an email to CBC News that there was a “dramatic increase” in toxic drug poisoning

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