(Dreamstime)

By David Opinko

52 drug poisoning deaths in Lethbridge in 2020, nearly double provincial rate

Mar 23, 2021 | 11:47 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Alberta Health Services (AHS) is reporting a record number of deaths due to illicit drug consumption in Lethbridge last year.

Note: Alberta Health told LNN that “drug poisoning” is the term used for statistical purposes and it means the same thing as an overdose.

The latest Alberta Substance Use Surveillance Report shows, in 2020, 52 people in Lethbridge died as a result of drug poisoning.

In December alone, AHS says this includes eight people in the city. That number is tied for the highest single-month death toll from drug poisoning with July 2018 and June 2020.

With a rate of 52.5 deaths per 100,000 persons, that is significantly higher than the regional and provincial figures.

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Across the South Zone, there were 102 deaths last year caused by drug use for a rate of 32.8 per 100,000 persons.

The region lost 15 lives in December 2020, the largest recorded monthly figure in at least the last five years.

As a percentage of the population, more people died in the South Zone than anywhere else in Alberta last year.

In the fourth quarter of last year, there were 1,267 visits to South Zone emergency departments related to substance use. In December in Lethbridge, this required 33 EMS responses.

The provincial numbers are 1,281 deaths, working out to 28.7 per 100,000 persons.

Those aged 35-39 were impacted the most by drug poisonings, followed by ages 25-29 and 30-34.

Men were disproportionally affected as, in most age groups, men made up between 70-80 per cent of all drug poisoning deaths.

The Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Site, the mobile unit parked by the Lethbridge Stabilization Centre and Shelter, was visited 10,061 times in the final quarter of 2020. This resulted in 153 adverse events.

When the now-former Supervised Consumption Site was open, there were several times where it was reportedly visited more than 60,000 times in a single quarter.

Drug poisoning deaths in Lethbridge. (Alberta Health Services)

Monthly breakdown of drug poisoning deaths in Lethbridge. (Alberta Health Services)

Drug poisoning deaths in the South Zone. (Alberta Health Services)

Monthly breakdown of drug poisoning deaths in South Zone. (Alberta Health Services)

Regonal comparison of drug poisoning deaths. (Alberta Health Services)