Updated substance use data shows seven people in Lethbridge died of opioid overdoses in June and July

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Opioid overdose deaths in Lethbridge are up substantially in the first seven months of 2021 compared to the same time frame last year.

The provincial government updated its substance use surveillance dashboard Friday, Oct. 8 with data from January through July.

Over those months, there were 32 deaths in Lethbridge from opioid poisonings, six of them in June alone.

That’s up from 28 deaths between January and July of 2020.

Provincially, overdose deaths are up as well with 821 people succumbing to opioid poisoning over the first seven months of the year compared to 619 over the same time frame in 2020.