Fentanyl deaths continue to climb in Alberta: AHS

Between October 1 and November 11, 2018, 63 people in the province died from an accidental fentanyl overdose, according to new information published by Alberta Health.

In the previous six weeks, between August 20 and September 30, there were 79 fentanyl deaths, according to a fourth quarter interim report for 2018.

Across the province, 10 people died from an alleged accidental carfentanil poisoning between October 1 and November 11, compared to seven people in the previous six weeks.

The information available for last year shows that between January 1 and November 11, there were 582 fentanyl deaths in the province, compared to 463 in 2017.

"In 2018, there is now an average of about 13 apparent fentanyl-related intoxication deaths per week (1.9 per day), compared to 11 deaths per week in 2017 (1.6 per day)," states the report. interim monitoring of opioid response.

Calgary continued to record the highest number of fentanyl-related deaths, with 271 registered so far in 2018, compared with 166 in Edmonton, 63 in central Alberta, 39 in northern Ontario 39, Alberta and 43 in the south of the province.

Since the beginning of the year, the total number of deaths related to carfentanil is 149, an increase of 149 from 116 for the same period in 2017. The southern and Calgary regions record the highest rate carfentanil-related deaths per 100,000 population. Calgary between January 1 and November 11, 2018, 17 in the South Zone, 14 in Central Alberta, 24 in Edmonton and four in the North Zone.