Fentanyl was responsible for 80 percent of the 3,787 opioid toxicity deaths recorded in Canada during the first half of this year, the country’s health agency has reported.
Data released by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) on Dec. 23 highlights the continued severity of the opioid crisis, with a total of 49,105 opioid-related deaths reported between January 2016 and June 2024. During the same period, there were 2,846 hospitalizations and 13,287 emergency department visits for opioid-related poisoning.
Eighty-two percent of all accidental opioid toxicity deaths in the first half of 2024 involved non-pharmaceutical opioids, according to PHAC data. Most of these deaths occurred in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario, which together accounted for 84 percent of fatalities. The majority of deaths were among males (72 percent) and individuals aged 30 to 39 (30 percent).
“Sadly, the extent of opioid- and stimulant-related harms remains very high, and it is important to acknowledge that these numbers represent lives lost, with lasting and profound impacts on families and communities across Canada,” Chief Public Health Officer of Canada Theresa Tam and Yukon Chief Medical Officer of Health Sudit Ranade said in a joint
press release. Tam and Ranade are the
co-chairs of the special advisory committee on toxic drug poisonings.PHAC noted that fentanyl is increasingly driving opioid toxicity deaths, accounting for 79 percent of fatalities in the first half of this year. This represents a 39 percent increase since 2016, when the health agency began national surveillance of opioid-related overdoses. The synthetic opioid has also been involved in 47 percent of opioid-related emergency room visits in the first half of 2024, a 135 percent rise from 2018, according to PHAC.
Fentanyl is categorized as a Schedule 1 drug under Canada’s Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, indicating a significant potential for abuse and a lack of recognized medical applications except in highly regulated situations. This classification makes it illegal to possess, distribute, or produce fentanyl without specific authorization.
Decriminalization
Despite its Schedule 1 status, fentanyl and other hard drugs have been decriminalized for personal use in British Columbia as part of a pilot program that came into effect on Jan. 31, 2023, and will run until Jan. 31, 2026. The
Health Canada exemption allows individuals aged 18 and older to possess up to 2.5 grams of certain illegal drugs without facing criminal charges.
B.C.’s approach to the opioid crisis, known as the “safer-supply” strategy, followed the provincial government’s declaration of a
public health emergency in April 2016 due to the escalating number of opioid-related deaths. In that year, 639 illicit drug overdose deaths were reported in the province, according to
government data.
The B.C. government
said that its safer-supply strategy aims to prevent overdoses and save lives by providing prescribed medications to people who use drugs, under the supervision of a healthcare practitioner.
However, the opioid-related death toll continued to rise in the province in the following years.
Vancouver Police Department Deputy Chief Fiona Wilson
testified in Parliament this year that more than 14,000 accidental overdose deaths have been reported in British Columbia since 2016. She attributed these deaths primarily to the widespread use of fentanyl, which was found in more than
85 percent of toxicity test results conducted by the B.C. Coroners Service in 2023.
She also highlighted that the vast majority of overdose deaths are not related to prescribed medications or diverted safe supply but to illicit drugs.
“[People in Vancouver] are not dying from diverted safe supply and they’re not actually dying from diverted prescription medication; they’re dying from fentanyl, coke and meth, and that’s where we really focus our enforcement efforts,” Wilson said in her
testimony before the Commons Health Committee on April 15.
B.C. Premier Eby
requested in April that the federal government revise the hard drugs exemption and recriminalize their use in certain public spaces, such as hospitals and restaurants. The request was approved in May.
