Opioid-related deaths down from 2018: report
EDMONTON Fewer Albertans are dying from fentanyl overdoses this year than last, according to new data released by the provincial government.
In the third quarter of 2019 — from July to September — the number of people who died in Alberta from unintentional fentanyl poisoning hit its lowest number in two years. The total number of people who had died by poisoning from all opioid drugs in the first nine months of 2019 also dropped 20 per cent from the 2018 tally, with overdoses taking 458 lives so far in 2019.
Those tasked with tackling the problem disagree on what’s saving lives.
Dr. Deena Hinshaw, Alberta’s chief medical health officer, says she finds the pattern “somewhat encouraging.”
“If the trend continues, we anticipate that we would have fewer deaths this year than last year,” she said Friday. “But it is important to note that every death is a tragedy and creates loss in the family and friends of those who’ve died.”
Contamination levels in street drugs and the increasing availability of drug treatment spaces could influence the numbers, she said.
The tally could also rise with time as ongoing death investigations are completed.
Jason Luan, Alberta’s associate minister of addiction and mental health, said the numbers of deaths are still too high.
“Opioids remain a major concern and we have other issues, especially methamphetamines,” Luan said in a Friday email statement.
Almost half of people who died of fentanyl poisoning also had meth listed as a cause of death.
Alberta’s United Conservative Party government will continue to reduce harm with a “balanced approach” that focuses on recovery-based treatment, Luan said.
The government has budgeted $140 million over four years for an opioid response strategy and mental health and addictions, including a promise to create 4,000 new treatment and detox beds. “We acknowledge that supervised consumption sites play a role in harm reduction,” Luan said. “The data on overdose deaths does not tell us why the trend is changing. There are a number of factors, starting with the supply of illicit fentanyl and the behaviour of addicts, which are outside our control.”
Celeste Hayward, executive director of the Alberta Community Council on HIV, said the downward trend in deaths shows the consumption sites that have opened since 2017 in Calgary, Edmonton, Grande Prairie and Lethbridge are working. Increased availability of drug replacement therapies and naloxone, which can reverse a potentially fatal overdose, are also contributing factors, she said.
Data provided by the organization, which does research on harm reduction and distributes supplies to consumption site services in Alberta, shows staff at the sites reversed 5,881 overdoses between November 2017 and October 2019. No one died on their watch.
“Forcing people into scenarios of accessing treatment ... is not going to be successful,” Hayward said. “Taking time to build the relationships and having these kinds of organizations open who can make those connections, that’s where we already see success.”
The government’s third-quarter report also showed that the Calgary zone’s opioid death rate remains the highest in the province. Of Alberta cities, Grande Prairie’s death rate is the highest so far in 2019.