Supplies on a table at an outdoor supervised consumption site in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. May 27, 2021. Seventy-two people died of opioid overdoses in May, 2024, the most recent month for which Alberta has published data.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
The number of opioid-related deaths in Alberta has declined again this year, with the province reporting fewer overdose deaths in May than in any month since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seventy-two people died of opioid overdoses in May, the most recent month for which Alberta has published data. That represents a 22-per-cent drop from the month before, when 92 people died, and a 55-per-cent decrease from May of 2023, when 161 people suffered fatal opioid overdoses.
“As a practitioner, this is incredibly promising,” said Monty Ghosh, an addictions medicine physician and an assistant professor at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary. “This is very good news.”
British Columbia has also seen a reduction in substance-use deaths so far this year, although the drop isn’t as pronounced as in Alberta. The most recent figures from the BC Coroners Service show there were 1,158 unregulated drug deaths in the first six months of this year, down 9 per cent from the same period in 2023 and less than in the first half of any year since 2020.
Alberta is reporting 431 opioid-related deaths from January to May, down 45 per cent from 788 in the first five months of last year.
Dr. Ghosh said it’s difficult to pinpoint the cause of the decrease in Alberta, where the question of how much to prioritize treatment and recovery over harm-reduction services such as supervised consumption sites has become a fraught political topic.
But there are some clues in the data released Thursday, he said. One possibility is that the makeup of street drugs has changed. The share of opioid deaths involving carfentanil – a powerful opioid used to sedate large animals such as elephants – is down in Alberta. Carfentanil was involved in 11 per cent of opioid deaths in the province so far this year, compared with 23 per cent last year, 29 per cent in 2022 and 27 per cent in 2021, the data show.
As well, the number of Albertans being treated with opioid-agonist therapy, which staves off withdrawal symptoms and reduces overdose risk, rose through 2023 and into the first quarter of 2024. For example, the number of people taking monthly injections of buprenorphine rose to 1,965 in the first quarter of this year, up from 1,222 in the first quarter of last year.
“Populations that use substances can sometimes be very difficult to track down and medication adherence is an issue,” Dr. Ghosh said. “So if you’re able to get a once monthly injection, that’s hugely beneficial for this population group.”
Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams said in a statement that his United Conservative Party government will keep emphasizing recovery over what he called “experimental policies” to tackle the toxic drug crisis in other jurisdictions.
“Alberta is focused on expanding access to the treatment and recovery services we know save lives. We have now opened three recovery communities, with eight more on the way – a record-breaking expansion to long-term addiction treatment services in Alberta,” Mr. Williams said.
The UCP government has come under fire for scaling back supervised consumption services in some communities, although the province has not gone nearly as far as Ontario, which recently announced that it would close 10 supervised consumption sites and ban new ones from opening.
Supervised consumption sites allow people struggling with addiction to take illegal drugs in the presence of medical personnel who can revive them if they overdose. While some studies show they save lives, the sites have also been criticized for contributing to public disorder.
The Public Health Agency of Canada reported just more than 8,000 deaths from toxic opioids last year, or an average of 22 a day. Friends and family of those lost to the crisis will honour their memories with events across Canada marking international opioid awareness day on Saturday.