Start of 2020 sees fewer opioid deaths: province

The first three months of 2020 saw fewer Albertans dying from accidental opioid overdoses when compared to the same time period last year, according to the latest data released by the province Monday.

From January to March, 142 people died from accidental opioid overdoses. This is down by roughly 11.8 per cent compared to the same time last year, when there were 161. Of those deaths, 127 were from an accidental fentanyl-related poisoning, down from 135 in 2019.

The number of fentanyl related deaths has increased to 127 compared to the 105 deaths in the final quarter of 2019.

That trend has Jason Luan, associate minister of mental health and addictions, worried.

“I am encouraged to see a nearly 12 per cent reduction in opioid fatalities compared to Q1 2019. However, I remain concerned that we’ve seen an increase from the last quarter,” said Luan. “While this report is a positive trend, I am concerned with early indications that there may be carfentanil circulating on the streets in Edmonton.”

Carfentanil is a drug that is approximately 100 times stronger than fentanyl, according to Alberta Health Services.

Edmonton and Calgary had the highest number of fentanyl deaths at 45 and 49, respectively. There were four deaths in Edmonton and the south zone each from non-fentanyl opioid overdoses.

Only 15 per cent of accidental overdoses were related to an opioid other than fentanyl and opioids were involved in 77 per cent of all alcohol and drug related deaths, whether accidental or suicide.

Marliss Taylor, the director of the Streetworks organization, said that she was viewing the decline as a positive sign that initiatives might be working.

“What we wanted was to see the numbers come down. And so when that’s showing them coming down, it makes me very happy,” said Taylor.

There were 115,809 visits to supervised consumption sites in Edmonton, Calgary, Lethbridge, Grande Prairie and Red Deer compared to 120,260 visits to these sites in the previous quarter. More than 242,800 naloxone kits were dispensed in Alberta with 16,148 reversals self-reported. More than 60 per cent of kits were distributed in Edmonton and Calgary.

While the beginning of the year has seen a drop in opioid deaths, front-line workers have been battling a spike in calls relating to overdoses since the beginning of the COVID -19 pandemic.

“It’s really a PRE-COVID report, which means things were not too bad. Things were going pretty well actually and certainly not perfect. But we were still seeing some downwards trending,” said Taylor.

Paramedics responded to 246 emergency calls in that month, a massive increase from May 2019 when there were 108, said Alberta Health Services. On May 29 alone, EMS responded to 16 opioid-related emergencies in the city, which is an increase from the average nine calls per day.

Taylor said from her personal experience, the beginning of June has been even worse.

“What we’re finding now is we’re experiencing a huge increase in the number of overdoses that we’re responding to and those that we’re hearing about,” said Taylor.

Luan said the government is working to understand the impact the pandemic is having on Alberta’s vulnerable population.