By Shaun Penner

Opioid Crisis

Grande Prairie records five drug poisoning deaths in May, up to 22 in 2021

Aug 11, 2021 | 11:14 AM

New figures from Alberta Health show that in May of 2021 there were five acute drug poisoning deaths in Grande Prairie, four of which were linked to non-pharmaceutical opioids like fentanyl.

With those figures, that brings the total number of drug poisoning deaths in the first five months of 2021 in Grande Prairie to 22. Of those, 20 have been linked to opioids.

The five deaths from a drug poisoning in May translate to a ratio of 78.7 per 100,000 person years, the second highest rate in the province, behind only Lethbridge at 83.9 per 100,000.

Province-wide, there were 122 substance-related deaths in May, 119 of which were opioid-related. Opioids have now been linked to 576 deaths in Alberta during the first five months of 2021, while 624 deaths in total have been linked to all substances.

Grande Prairie and Alberta both recorded record years for drug poisoning deaths in 2020, with 1,316 drug-related fatalities in 2020 in the province, 1,144 of which were linked to opioids.

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The Swan City recorded a total of 38 deaths in 2020 from all substances, with 33 of those deaths linked to opioids.