The Government of Alberta has released new statistics on drug overdose deaths up to November 2023. (Photo: Steveheap | Dreamstime.com)

By David Opinko

10 people in Lethbridge died to drug overdoses every month from Jan-Nov

Apr 18, 2024 | 9:16 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – The Government of Alberta has announced its latest statistics on the opioid crisis.

From the beginning of January to the end of November 2023, a total of 115 people in Lethbridge died as a result of drug overdoses.

That works out to an average of 10.45 deaths every month.

The greatest number of fatal overdoses occurred in April at 20, which is tied with February 2022 for the most in a single month in the city since tracking started in 2016.

Five people died in November 2023.

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In most periods prior to 2022, the majority of “unintentional opioid poisoning deaths” in Lethbridge occurred in peoples’ own private homes.

As of the third quarter of 2023, however, the province reports that 52 per cent of these incidents took place in public and only 17 per cent in the user’s home.

Among the 31 cases were multiple substances were detected in the victim’s body in the South Health Zone, fentanyl was present every single time. Methamphetamine was the second most common and was found in 77 per cent of cases.

In the first 11 months of last year, 1,706 Albertans died due to drug overdoses, or a monthly average of 155.

Provincially, men aged 35 to 39 were the most likely to succumb to drug use.

The full Alberta substance use surveillance system report can be read on the Government of Alberta’s website.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now

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