Province needs to develop co-ordinated plan, MLA says
Still, she said the situation remains difficult to predict. In neighbouring B.C., deaths from illicit drugs have continued to climb.
“We can’t make any assumptions based on just a few quarters and we’ll have to see how thing go over time,” Klein said.
Of the 119 deaths recorded in the second quarter, 54 were in the Calgary zone and 38 in the Edmonton region. While the two largest cities had the most fatalities in total, the per-capita rate of deaths was highest in Grande Prairie and Fort McMurray.
The north zone of the province reported 28 fentanyl deaths in the first half of 2017, not far off the 32 deaths recorded in all of 2016.
The provincial report also showed a growing concern with carfentanil, an opioid 100 times more toxic than fentanyl.
Of the 241 fentanyl-related deaths in the first six months of this year, carfentanil was detected in 53 cases. That’s well above the 29 cases that were reported in all of 2016. Law enforcement and health officials have reported that fentanyl and carfentanil are showing up increasingly often in all variety of street drugs.
Another part of the report showed that a large number of Albertans who died from any kind of opioid (including fentanyl) experienced their overdose at home. In Edmonton, the rate was 49 per cent in the first quarter, while’s Calgary’s rate was 67 per cent.
“This is something we really want to look into, and see what are the reasons,” Klein said. “Are people not calling 9-1-1 or are they not being able to access treatment?”
Associate health minister Brandy Payne was in Calgary on Wednesday to announce $1.2 million in funding to develop a supervised drug consumption site in that city. Four sites are also in the works in Edmonton, although infrastructure costs have yet to be determined.
Liberal MLA David Swann said the NDP government has been too slow to get a handle on the “horrifying” situation and called on the province to develop a co-ordinated plan to improve services.