The body of a lifeless young man was discovered behind a Lorne Street business Tuesday morning, another apparent victim of the global opioid crisis.
A worker at nearby Covalin Electrical Supply made the grisly discovery around 8:20 a.m. as he was arriving to work. He noticed a man laying face-down and motionless on a sheet of cardboard in the store's back parking lot. He was mostly covered in a blanket but the employee could see his face.
The employee, who asked not to be identified, said he tried to wake the man by honking his car horn and yelling, but quickly called police when the man didn't move.
Greater Sudbury paramedics and fire responded within 30 seconds, said Brody Howland, another Covalin employee. They were followed half an hour later by several police cruisers.
The area was blocked off until noon, at which point the body was removed from the scene for further investigation. The deceased apparently spent the night in the store's back parking lot, a common practice for addicts in the area, the Covalin employees said. They routinely find homeless people and evidence of drug use behind their store.
The business recently installed security cameras to combat this issue, and that footage has been handed to police to help in the investigation. Howland said Tuesday's fatality shows the urgent need to address the opioid crisis.
"It's an epidemic," he said. "There needs to be a more efficient solution."
There are more deaths and more needles than ever before, said another Covalin employee who asked not to be identified.
"The city needs to sit down and figure this stuff out," he said, before adding, “our condolences go out to the family."
