Fentanyl related deaths continue to rise in Lethbridge according to Alberta Health report
LETHBRIDGE – Alberta Health has released its second quarter Opioid Response Surveillance Report, and the number of overdose deaths, especially related to fentanyl, are still rising.
According to the report, in Lethbridge alone, from Jan. 1 to June 30, there were 17 deaths related to apparent accidental fentanyl overdoses. That’s one more death than the 16 that occurred in all of 2017.
By comparison, Red Deer, which has a population comparable to that of Lethbridge, there have so far been 24 fentanyl-related deaths this year. There were 23 in all of 2017.
In Medicine Hat, there were four fentanyl related deaths, and in the entire South Health Zone, there were 26. Carfentanil accounted for 4 deaths in the South Health Zone, but it’s not clear from the report if those occurred in Lethbridge or the surrounding areas.