Drug toxicity deaths in 2023 might set a provincial record: Saskatchewan Coroners Service report

With a rising number of users at the Prairie Harm Reduction safe consumption site in Saskatoon and an increase in toxic drug supply, executive director Kayla DeMong says she's not surprised by a potential record number of drug toxicity deaths in 2023.

"We're seeing more and more overdoses in the safe consumption site," she said.

There were 484 confirmed and suspected drug toxicity deaths in Saskatchewan in 2023. Depending on how many of the 193 suspected drug toxicity deaths are confirmed, that total could surpass the record set in 2021, when there were 404 deaths — the highest number of deaths in publicly available data from the Saskatchewan Coroners Service that dates back to 2010.

DeMong attributed some of the rise in overdoses to concoctions of fentanyl, xylazine and benzodiazepines in the drug supply. They're forcing the site, which allows people to use substances in a safe space with medical services immediately available, to have to deal with symptoms that expand beyond an opioid overdose.

"With the xylazine and the benzodiazepines, you're seeing people [who] … are almost in a zombie state for hours following resuscitation depending on what health conditions they have," she said. "It makes the situation a lot more complicated." 

DeMong says there were an average of two overdoses on site a month from January to November last year, including 16 in November. 

While no one has died after overdosing at the safe consumption site, DeMong says, the rise in overdoses puts a continual strain on their staff,

The site recently extended the hours of its paramedics to reduce the pressure on its non-medically trained staff who were responding to overdoses outside the building.

Overdose prevention 

On Thursday, the Saskatchewan government announced it will fund a 60-bed inpatient addictions treatment facility, set to open in the spring, in the old Living Skies Retreat and Conference Centre near Lumsden. It will provide wrap-around and holistic treatment services for 16 weeks.

It's a part of Saskatchewan's Action Plan for Mental Health and Addictions, which aims to create 500 new treatment spaces and a central intake system by 2027-28. So far, the figure stands at 168, according to the province.

A Ministry of Health spokesperson said in an email that the plan will double the number of treatment spaces across the province.

The email also said there is an overdose outreach pilot underway that contacts people who have recently experienced an overdose and connects them with programs, services and counselling.

"We will continue to work on initiatives to help Saskatchewan residents who are struggling with addictions," the spokesperson said.

While she's not opposed to new treatment spaces, DeMong says the government needs to fund a holistic approach, including safe consumption sites.

"We see lots of people accessing treatment and detox and looking to make changes because they've been kept alive long enough to have the opportunity to do so," she said.

Overdoses more difficult to reverse

Emile Gariepy,  the harm-reduction manager at the Nēwo-Yōtina Friendship Centre in Regina, says the centre's mortality rate — 127 in Regina compared with Saskatoon's 65 — is directly related to the type of support people receive, and the lack of pre-support they get before they end up in treatment centres.

The centre can test drugs and has an overdose prevention site. It also supplies food, housing support and addictions counsellors for those seeking help.

Like DeMong, Gariepy has found drugs coming into the centre are being mixed, leading to toxicity levels that are difficult to reverse.

"It's very dangerous and it's getting a lot harder to turn these overdoses around," he said.

Naloxone, commonly used in opioid overdoses, is not always effective in these cases and requires a different approach, including the use of a manual breathing apparatus.

"We're definitely seeing a lot more faces disappearing these days because of this new drug coming up on the streets," he said.