Overdose deaths in South Health Zone nearly double in 2017
LETHBRIDGE – Alberta Health has released its final 2017 Quarterly Report on Opioids and Substances of Misuse. It includes the final tally for deaths, ER visits, hospitalizations and methadone/naloxone dispensing across the province.
In Alberta, 687 people died from apparent accidental opioid overdoses, or about two people every day. Of those, 562 people died from an apparent accident fentanyl overdose.
In the South Zone, there were 30 accidental overdose deaths in 2017, with 18 of those in Lethbridge alone. In Medicine Hat there were seven deaths. In 2016, there were 16 deaths in the south zone, with 10 of those in Lethbridge, and three in Medicine Hat.
According to the report, carfentanil is also claiming more lives in the South Health Zone as well. In 2016, there were two deaths related to the drug, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, and 10,000 times as potent as morphine. In 2017, those numbers quadrupled to eight.