Three unintentional fatal drug poisonings were reported in the City of Grande Prairie in July. That brings the year-to-date total to 25.
Of the lives lost, two were to non-pharmaceutical opioids and one was to cocaine. They gave the community a per capita drug-related death rate of 31.1 in July, fourth for major cities in the province behind Medicine Hat at 51.4, Edmonton at 44.9, and Lethbridge at 35.5.
The provincial unintentional acute drug poisoning death rate was 25.2 per 100,000 people in July, with 95 deaths reported, of which 92 were opioid-related. In a release Thursday, the provincial government noted that opioid-related deaths in Alberta have decreased by nearly 50 per cent in July 2022 compared to the peak in late 2021.
According to the latest update from the Alberta substance use surveillance system, in the second quarter of the year, 73 per cent of the fatal drug overdoses in the city happened to people in their own homes. Of the rest, 18 per cent were in public and nine per cent in other facilities.
The supervised consumption site in Grande Prairie received 1,858 visits in the second quarter of 2022, with an average of 79 unique visitors a month. A total of 46 adverse events were responded to during that time, which could include supportive care offered, oxygen administered, naloxone administered, or an EMS response.
From August 22nd to September 11th, there were 10 EMS responses to opioid-related events in Grande Prairie.