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File photo of Galt Gardens in 2023. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

Zero overdose deaths reported in Lethbridge in March

Jun 27, 2025 | 9:06 AM

It is something that has only happened a few times in the last five years, but the Alberta Government says nobody died from drug overdoses in Lethbridge in March 2025.

With one fatality each in January and February, that brings the total for the first quarter of this year to two.

Looking at each first quarter in the 2020s, there were eight deaths in the city due to drug consumption in Q1 2020, 13 in 2021, 37 in 2022, 35 in 2023, and 14 in 2024.

The only times when there have not been any overdose deaths in Lethbridge in a single month over the last four years were in September and November 2024. Prior to that, it last occurred in November 2020.

Dan Williams, Alberta’s former Minister of Mental Health and Addiction, told LNN earlier this year that his government’s recovery-oriented model of care was a major reason for the decline in drug overdose deaths.

READ MORE: Province credits recovery model for falling drug overdose deaths in Lethbridge

There were a total of 12,649 visits to the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Site in the fourth quarter of 2024, which has been fairly consistent since the mobile truck’s introduction in late 2020. It marks a significant reduction from the numbers seen at the former ARCHES Supervised Consumption Site, which saw as many as 66,168 visits in a single quarter in Q4 2019.

Provincially, fentanyl was detected in the victim’s body 96 per cent of the time, while 64 per cent of fatal drug overdose cases involved methamphetamine, and carfentanyl was found in 59 per cent.

Approximately three-quarters of victims in Alberta were men, and the most common age group was 40-44.

You can view the full Alberta substance use surveillance system report on HealthAnalytics.Alberta.ca

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