The number of drug overdose deaths in Lethbridge continues to fall. (Photo: Steveheap | Dreamstime.com)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge drug overdose deaths lowest since 2019

Mar 17, 2025 | 9:29 AM

While any deaths due to drug consumption are too many, a new report shows things in Lethbridge continue to trend in the right direction.

The Government of Alberta has updated its substance use surveillance system report.

Between January and October 2024, it says overdoses claimed the lives of 40 people in the city, including two in October.

Last year’s numbers represent a sizable reduction from the record statistics seen in 2023 when 110 people in Lethbridge lost their lives as a result of drug use.

The city has seen a 63 per cent drop in drug overdose deaths in the one year since.

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The number of reported fatalities is also the lowest of the last six years as there were 59 overdose deaths in 2022, 47 in 2021 and 42 in 2020.

Drug overdose deaths in Lethbridge between January and October. (Graph compiled by LNN. Source: Alberta Opioid Surveillance System)

In the third quarter of 2024, the report states that 57 per cent of fatal drug overdoses occurred in public places in Lethbridge while they happened in somebody else’s home 29 per cent of the time. These incidents occurred in the victim’s home in 14 per cent of cases.

In years prior, public overdose deaths accounted for the smallest percentage while the victim’s home was the most frequent location.

As many as 95 per cent of “acute accidental drug poisoning deaths” in the South Health Zone were the result of fentanyl use. Methamphetamine was found in the victim’s body in three-quarters of cases, while cocaine was detected one-third of the time.

Nearly three in four victims were men and the most common age group for victims was 35-39.

The full substance use surveillance system report can be found here.

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