There were more deaths related to opioids in March than in any previous month registered in the Edmonton area, according to the latest government data.
Two experts say that it should have been done more in the period prior to the increase in deaths.
Eighty -seven people died of opioid drug poisoning in March, which makes the greatest number of deaths related to opioids in the capital region of Alberta since the authorities began to trace it publicly in 2016.
“It is very horrible, frankly, to see such a great increase in deaths in Edmonton,” said Elaine Hyshka, Canadian research president in innovation of health systems at the School of Public Health of the University of Alberta.
“We are almost 10 years in this crisis. And the fact that the numbers here become much higher, it is really worrying.”
Since August 2023, the number of fatal drugs of opioid drugs has been mainly in a downward trend, falling to 33 deaths last September before it began to increase again.
Hyshka said there was an increase in calls to emergency medical services in early 2025, and since the province should have issued a public warning.
“When we experience an increased period of overdose, the public has the right to know,” said Hyshka.
“You must warn people who take as many precautions as possible.”
But the province said in an email that EMS’s response to events related to opioids per week has fluctuated in the first three months of 2025, which go between 40 and approximately 230 answers.
The province also pointed out a “worrying” growth in the use of carps.
“We have been closely monitoring the situation along with our municipal partners,” wrote Nathaniel Dueck, press secretary of the Ministry of Mental Health and Addiction.
“In all 2024, the carps were involved in 16 percent of deaths related to opioids in Edmonton. This has increased to 70 percent during the first three months of 2025.”
Marliss Taylor, an expert in damage reduction and nurse registered in Edmonton, agreed with Hyshka’s call and said additional services should be offered during those times.
Taylor said that the influx in carphanthanil, an increase in adulterants in drug supply and the main drug busts that destabilized that supply are some of the reasons of the spike.
Another factor, said Taylor, is that more Edmonians are using substances in isolated environments due to camp moving and fewer line workers.
“There are fewer overdose equipment out there,” Taylor told CBC News Wednesday. “There are fewer dissemination workers who are available to help the community deal with this.”
Dueck said the province is closely monitoring the situation in the Edmonton region, but at the provincial level the situation looks very different.
“Throughout the province, there were 117 deaths related to opioids in March 2025, compared to 91 in February 2025, but below 126 in March 2024,” Dueck said.
Dueck said Edmonton represented almost the entire increase provincially.
He said Alberta began accepting customers in three of his recovery communities from May 2023, and eight more established as part of his response to the addiction crisis.
The province also said that it added more than 10,000 treatment spaces with public funds and eliminated the daily rates of users for residential treatment.
