A new report shows 94 people have died as a result of drug use in Lethbridge between January and August 2023. (Photo: Moussa81 | Dreamstime.com)

By David Opinko

Province reports 94 overdose deaths in Lethbridge in first eight months of 2023

Nov 6, 2023 | 5:42 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A new report from the Government of Alberta shows people are continuing to die as a result of drug use.

The Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System has been updated to show numbers up to the end of August 2023.

In August, three people died in Lethbridge from drug overdoses, which is the lowest single-month total since October of last year.

That means that 94 deaths have been recorded over the first eight months of 2023 in the city. This is the biggest year-to-date figure since the government started tracking these numbers in 2016.

It is also more than the entirely of 2022, which, at the time, represented a new record for the most fatal drug overdoses in Lethbridge at 77.

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In the second quarter, there were 132 admissions to hospitals in the South Health Zone because of drug use.

Provincially, the stats remain high as well. The report states that 147 Alberta died due to drug use in August, bringing the annual total to 1,262.

Fentanyl was detected in 93 per cent of all illicit drug overdose deaths in the province, making it by far the most prevalent. Coroners also found methamphetamine 55 per cent of the time and carfentanil 29 per cent of the time.

Approximately two-thirds of the people who died were men and the most common age group for victims was 35 to 39.

The full Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System report can be found on the Government of Alberta’s website.

READ MORE: Lethbridge News Now

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