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By Liam Verster
Highest Monthly Count in 2020

Grande Prairie sees six opioid-related deaths in November, now 28 for 2020

Feb 10, 2021 | 12:05 PM

New figures from the Alberta government show that six people died in Grande Prairie in November 2020 due to an opioid poisoning.

Those six deaths are an increase on the numbers on a year-over-year basis, which saw one death recorded in November of 2019, one in November of 2018, and four in November of 2017.

The deaths bring the number of opioid related fatalities in Grande Prairie for 2020 up to 28. Of those deaths, 27 were connected to non-pharmaceutical opioids, which includes substances such as fentanyl and heroin.

The opioid-related fatalities are an increase from both 2019 and 2018 as a whole, which saw 26 deaths linked to the substance each year.

However, while it is slightly below the 31 deaths recorded in 2017, it’s also well above the 11 opioid deaths recorded in Grande Prairie in 2016.

The six deaths in November is also an increase on a month-over-month basis, as there were four opioid related fatalities in both October and September, and just two in August.

November’s fatality count is also the highest one month total so far in 2020 in the Swan City.

With the addition of November’s numbers, there have now been 77 opioid-related deaths in the North Zone in 2020, which is more than recorded in each of the past four years. In 2019, 62 Albertans in the North Zone died due to opioid poisoning, in 2018 there were 54 deaths, 76 were recorded in 2017, and there were 44 opioid related fatalities in 2016.

The North Zone has the fourth highest number of opioid deaths in the province, with the Edmonton Zone (372 deaths), Calgary Zone (371), and Central Zone (102) recording more fatalities. The South Zone saw 75 opioid related deaths in the first 11 months of 2020.

In November, 106 Albertans died due to opioid poisoning, bringing the provincial death toll for 2020 up to 997.

Provincial statistics show that 77.5 per cent of those who died from opioid poisoning were males, while the remaining 22.5 per cent were women.

The stats also show the most deaths in Alberta came from males aged 35 to 39 (118 fatalities), followed by males aged 30 to 34 (112) and males aged 25 to 29 (98).

Women aged 25 to 29 contributed the most to the death toll (35), followed by women aged 35 to 39 (33) and women age 30 to 34 (30).

by Liam Verster