According to the most recent data posted by the province, it appears the number of opioid-related deaths in Alberta is falling.
That is some much-needed good news.
In May (there is always a lag on the data, so this is the most recent month for when we have information), 72 Albertans died of overdoses, a drop of 22-per-cent from the month before, when 92 people died. And a 55-per-cent decrease from May last year, when 161 people overdosed and died from opioids.
But perhaps most stunning, that is the fewest number of overdose deaths in any month since before the COVID-19 pandemic.
For the last four-plus years, Alberta, like so many other places, has seen a surge in opioid deaths.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, more than 1,100 people died of opioid overdoses, nearly double the number of the year before. And by last year, that number had soared to a record 1,867 people.
The previous record was set in 2021, when 1,639 people died.
In the first five months of this year, Alberta is reporting 431 opioid-related deaths, down 45 per cent from 788 in the same period last year.
Falling numbers are something everyone should be cheering for, especially as the epidemic, concentrated in Alberta’s two biggest cities, has challenged health and civic officials desperate for a solution.
“As a practitioner, this is incredibly promising,” said Monty Ghosh, a leader in addictions medicine and an assistant professor at the University of Alberta and the University of Calgary in an interview with The Globe’s Kelly Grant. “This is very good news.”
Alberta Minister of Mental Health and Addiction Dan Williams provided a statement for the Globe’s story, saying the 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,” he said.
I’m sure there are skeptics who will wonder if the numbers are accurate, especially as the United Conservative Party government has become laser-focused on its treatment and recovery plan, coined the Alberta model.
And Ghosh said it’s not easy to pick a specific reason why we are seeing the decrease.
(Of note, British Columbia has also seen a reduction in substance-use deaths this year. Although as Kelly reported, the drop isn’t as significant as in Alberta. The most recent figures from the BC Coroners Service show a 9 per cent drop in the first six months compared to 2023 and less than in the first half of any year since 2020.)
But no matter the reason for the drop, fewer families losing a loved one to the scourge of addiction, is good for all of us.
This is the weekly Alberta newsletter written by Alberta Bureau Chief Mark Iype. If you’re reading this on the web, or it was forwarded to you from someone else, you can sign up for it and all Globe newsletters here.