Provincial report on opioids outlines number of deaths so far in 2019

A new report released Thursday says nearly one-third of accidental fentanyl-related poisoning deaths in the province during the first quarter of 2019 occurred in Edmonton.

The province’s lastest opioid surveillance report said 36 people in Edmonton have died from an accidental fentanyl-related poisoning between January and March of this year.

Across the province, a total of 137 people have died from accidental fentanyl-related poisoning. This is down from 160 people between October and December 2018. So far in 2019, about 1.5 people a day in the province are dying from accidental fentanyl-related poisoning — where fentanyl or a fentanyl analogue was identified as a cause of death.

The report shows Edmonton and Calgary continue to have the highest number of deaths, with a total of 518 and 779 respectively since Jan. 1, 2016.

According to the report, the place where the death occurred was the same as the person’s home address for 52 per cent of the fentanyl-related deaths in Edmonton in the first quarter.

Between January and March, Edmonton emergency medical services responded to 206 opioid-related events across the city.

As for the safe consumption sites, between January and March, there have been more than 17,400 visits to the Boyle Street Community Services, Boyle McCauley Health Centre, and George Spady sites. This amounts to more than 5,800 visits on average per month.

The report did not include data from the Royal Alexandra inpatient site.

Since the first site opened at Boyle Street in March 2018, there have been a total of 46,731 visits to safe consumption sites in Edmonton with 488 overdose reversals.

The report also says more than 145,000 naloxone kits — which temporarily reverse an overdose  — have been distributed to Albertans as of this past March.

Since Jan. 1, 2016, a total of 1,721 people in Alberta have died from an accidental fentanyl-related poisoning death.

ajunker@postmedia.com