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By Josh Hall | @Vancan19

changing landscape

Latest opioid data shows evolving trends in Red Deer

Jan 10, 2025 | 6:00 AM

According to the latest data supplied to the Alberta substance use surveillance system, opioid-related deaths were down in Red Deer during last year’s third quarter (Q3 2024).

The data was recently updated through September 2024.

Numbers indicate Red Deer had two opioid-related deaths in September, two in August, and one in July, which is down from previous months, but fairly consistent with the Septembers of years previous.

As for rates of death, September saw Red Deer right in the middle — lower than Edmonton, Fort McMurray and Medicine Hat, but higher than Calgary, Grande Prairie and Lethbridge.

There were 24 recorded deaths in Red Deer through the first nine months of the year, compared to 37 in the same time period for 2023. That year ended with 54.

changing landscape

Latest opioid data shows evolving trends in Red Deer

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“Throughout this year, Alberta’s Recovery Model has seen steady decline in the number of people losing their lives to opioid addiction with September this year 53 per cent lower than 2023,” says Dan Williams, Alberta’s Minister of Mental Health and Addiction.

“This is an encouraging trend and says very clearly Alberta is headed in the right direction. While fatalities have in fact decreased in many jurisdictions, the Alberta Recovery Model’s decrease of 38 per cent in the first nine months over last year is leading the way.”

Looking at numbers related to Red Deer’s overdose prevention site (OPS), which is set to close later this year, the trends have also changed.

The OPS has 5,589 visits during Q3 2024, the lowest one-quarter total since Q4 2018.

Unique visitors totalled 191 for Q3, fairly level with recent months and years past.

But looking at adverse events, which includes EMS calls, naloxone or oxygen being administered, and other supportive care, the numbers are also down.

With the exception of Q2 2024, Q3 2024 saw the lowest number of adverse events at the OPS since it opened in October 2018. There were 41 adverse events in the latest reported quarter, far lower than in recent memory, though as noted, up from Q2 which had just 27.

The ministry noted that with the OPS closing by the end of March, it has been asked of them by the city to instead invest money locally into services such as access to detox, a mobile rapid access addiction medicine clinic, recovery coaches, and overdose response teams, among other things.

Elsewhere in the new data, naloxone distribution remains high for Central Zone; in fact, it was the second highest month for distribution ever, behind the quarter previous.

There were 5,203 kits given out at community sites and a zone record 2,186 given out at pharmacies between July and September 2024.

There are now 199 pharmacies in Central Zone registered to give out naloxone kits.

AHS declined comment, deferring to the government; Turning Point, a local agency which provides addiction-related services, and which is the former operator of the OPS, also declined comment.