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CALGARY (660 NEWS) – New figures released by Alberta Health show that Calgary remains one of the regions hardest hit by the epidemic of opioids.
In Alberta's opioid ops monitoring report for the fourth quarter, 582 people died in Alberta as a result of suspected fentanyl-related poisoning between January 1 and November 11, 2018. This increase is increasing 3% compared to 566 during the same period in 2017.
By breaking it down into weekly numbers, this means that there were 13 deaths from accidental poisoning due to a drug each week, or nearly two deaths a day.
In the Calgary area, there were 271 deaths, a slight increase from 2017, when they were 267.
The city is also experiencing an increasing rate of deaths due to carfentanil-related drug intoxication. According to Alberta Health Services, carfentanil is one of the most toxic opioids and studies have shown that it is over 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl, a smaller dose than a grain of salt was enough to be fatal for humans. Veterinarians generally use it to soothe and calm farm animals.
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Compared with the other areas examined in the report, Calgary has exceeded the number of carfentanil-related deaths in the province to 90%. In percentage terms, the city accounted for 60% of the 149 deaths.
That's more than four times the number of Edmonton in the same period.
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