Opioid-related emergency calls up 60% year over year

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on December 15, 2023.

https://www.medicinehatnews.com@MedicineHatNews

EMS calls related to opioids have risen by 60 per cent in Medicine Hat through the first nine months of 2023, while the number of fatal drug overdoses approaches a new record.

To the end of September, 33 deaths in the city were attributed to opioid overdoses, just three fewer than were recorded in all of 2021.

That year, Medicine Hat set a record for fatalities at 36, while the figure in 2022 fell to 20.

Calgary, with 495 deaths in the latest statistics published by Alberta substance use surveillance data, is also on track to set a new high number of fatalities. Lethbridge surpassed its previous high in June and now has 102 noted in the latest figures.

In Medicine Hat, local calls for ambulance and police to respond to opioid-related emergencies totalled 164 for the year at the end of September, an average of one every two days over nine months.

That’s more than the 102 recorded in the whole of 2022.

Province-wide, 1,411 deaths had been recorded at Sept. 30, compared to a 12-month high of 1,631 set in 2021.