Montreal records increase in opioid deaths in pandemic year as national fatalities skyrocket
Montreal -
A new national study confirmed what many addiction specialists have predicted: opioid-related overdoses and deaths have doubled in the last year, compared to 2019.
British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario were the hardest hit, while Montreal observed a 50 per cent increase in opioid deaths.
Ontario recorded the most new deaths of any province (2,316 in 2020, 1,397 in 2019), followed by British Columbia (1,671 in 2020, 963 in 2019), Alberta (1,132 in 2020, 615 in 2019) and Quebec (547 in 2020, 414 in 2019).
The findings revealed that 82 per cent of those deaths involved fentanyl. The victims were mostly males between 20 and 49.
For the full story, watch CTV News Reporter Stephane Giroux’s report above.
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