Fentanyl-related deaths still rising in Alberta and Central Zone

More Albertans died of fentanyl-related overdoses in 2018 than the year previous, according to Alberta Health.

Released Friday, the quarterly Alberta Opioid Response Surveillance Report shows 582 Albertans died of fentanyl-related overdoses between Jan. 1 and Nov. 11 last year.

The number of fentanyl-related deaths has been rising every year since the province began tracking them in 2011, when there were only six recorded deaths. That is 16 more than in 2017.

In the Central Zone there were 63 fentanyl-related deaths last year, up from 45 in 2017.