The Alberta Government reports that fatal drug overdoses in Lethbridge are continuing to trend downward. (Photo: Moussa81 | Dreamstime.com)

By David Opinko

Fatal drug overdoses in Lethbridge down 80%

Dec 9, 2025 | 11:13 AM

The Alberta Government has released the latest statistics on drug overdose deaths in Lethbridge.

In August, they say one person died as a result of drug consumption, bringing the city’s year-to-date total to seven.

This represents an 80 per cent drop compared to the same period last year, when 36 people died, and a reduction of 92 per cent from 91 deaths in 2023, which remains Lethbridge’s peak.

This year’s numbers are the lowest since 2017.

LNN recently covered how Lethbridge went from having the highest rate of drug overdose deaths in Alberta back in 2023 to now being among the lowest.

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READ MORE: How Lethbridge went from Alberta’s highest rate of overdose deaths to nearly the lowest

The most recent report shows that, between January and August 2025, Lethbridge’s rate was 9.6 per 100,000 population, which was the second lowest behind Medicine Hat’s 8.4.

It is still quite a bit lower than the provincial average of 22.8.

Number of drug overdose deaths in Lethbridge, January to August, 2016-2025. (Source: Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System. Compiled by LNN)

The rate of drug overdose deaths in Alberta communities per 100,000 population, January-August 2025. (Source: Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System. Compiled by LNN)

There were 167 visits to emergency departments in the South Zone related to substance use in the second quarter of this year, which is down by 45 per cent compared to the same quarter two years ago.

The government also reported 12,306 visits to the Lethbridge Overdose Prevention Site in Q2 this year, which is fairly consistent with the last few years. It is, however, significantly lower than the usage of the former ARCHES Supervised Consumption Site, which saw as many as 59,901 visits in the second quarter of 2019.

Provincially, fentanyl was detected in 93 per cent of cases in which multiple substances were involved. Carfentanyl was found 66 per cent of the time, and methamphetamine was used in 65 per cent of incidents.

More than three-quarters (76.6 per cent) of fatal overdose victims were men, and the most common age group was 35-39.

The full report on the Alberta Substance Use Surveillance System can be found here.