Grande Prairie remains ranked first for opioid-related deaths per capita in the province with 69.24 deaths per 100,000 in the first five months of this year. Lethbridge is second with 59.86 deaths per 100,000 people in the same time frame.
This is after four more reported non-pharmaceutical-related opioids overdoses were reported in the city in the month of May.
Based on data released from the Alberta Government, 19 people in the city have now died from non-pharmaceutical opioids since the start of 2021, with two of the deaths reported in January, four in February, five in March, four in April, and four in May.
Fentanyl and its related drugs, as well as heroin, are considered to be non-pharmaceutical opioids. Prescribed opioids, such as codeine, hydromorphone, and methadone, are considered to be pharmaceutical opioids.
33 people died of accidental opioid poisoning in Grande Prairie in 2020, the highest recorded number in the city since opioid-related data collection began in 2016.