By Troy Gillard (Twitter: @Troy_Gillard)

Red Deer still with highest rate of opioid-related deaths in Alberta

Jan 3, 2019 | 6:56 PM

Red Deer continues to lead the province in opioid-related deaths, according to the latest numbers from Alberta Health.

There were 31 fentanyl-related deaths in our city from Jan. 1 to Sept. 30, 2018, compared with 23 over the same period in 2017.

At 38.5 per 100,000 person years, Red Deer continues is seeing the highest rate of apparent accidental drug poisoning deaths related to fentanyl in Alberta. 

By comparison, Lethbridge saw a rate of 29.4 through the first nine months of last year, Grande Prairie 28.8, Calgary 21.7 and Edmonton 17.4.

Red Deer also leads the province in deaths related to an opioid other than fentanyl at 3.7 per 100,000 person years.

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That’s also higher than Lethbridge (2.0), Edmonton (2.0) and Calgary (0.9).

The latest data shows 523 people died in Alberta from an apparent accidental opioid poisoning from Jan.1 through Sept. 30, an average of two per day.

While officials say it’s too early to know for sure, the latest numbers from Alberta Health suggest overdose deaths in the province may be plateauing.

In the third quarter of 2018, 158 people died from an apparent accidental fentanyl-related poisoning in Alberta, compared to 167 people in the previous quarter.

While fentanyl-related deaths continue to increase, officials note the increase appears to have slowed, and concurrently, non-fentanyl opioid deaths have decreased significantly.