Fatal opioid overdoses have steadily been on the rise in Canada, with deaths showing a consistent upward trend ever since the government first began nationally tracking the issue in 2016 until last year.
The Public Health Agency of Canada observed a dramatic elevation in deaths over the past eight years, tallying a total of 49,105 opioid toxicity deaths during that period.
While opioid deaths began to somewhat stabilize in 2024, they had been significantly increasing, going from less than 3,000 a year in 2026 to over 8,000 in 2023.
According to the government agency’s data, males 30 to 39 years of age are most likely to die from opioid toxicity, accounting for 72% of total deaths since 2016.
Regionally, British Columbia is home to an overwhelming majority of the “accidental apparent opioid toxicity deaths in Canada,” noted Public Health Canada, responsible for 84% of all deaths recorded last year.
Alberta and Ontario are the provinces that saw the next two highest figures of fatal overdoses
The bulk of accidental opioid deaths from January to June of last year involved fentanyl at 79%, up nearly double from from 2016 when fentanyl was a factor in 40% of deaths.
The majority of accidental deaths in 2024 (82%) involved non-pharmaceutical drugs.
Over half of the deaths last year also involved a stimulant.
Unsurprisingly, hospitalizations as a result of opioid-related poisoning have also been steadily increasing since 2016, with 45,707 recorded to date.
“Most accidental opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations occurred among males (64%) and among individuals aged 60 years or more (25%) so far in 2024 (January to June),” reads the report. “Among the 2,846 opioid-related poisoning hospitalizations so far in 2024 (January to June), 18% involved co-poisoning with a stimulant.”
Fentanyl and its analogues were detected in 33% of hospitalizations in the first six months of last year.
The lethal drug’s involvement has also been on the rise, shooting up 106% since 2018, when Public Health Canada first began specifically surveilling fentanyl.
However, the agency noted that it has appeared to have somewhat stabilized in recent years.
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada recently released its 2024 Public Report on Organized Crime report, which found that “organized crime remains a preeminent threat to Canada’s security, contributing to thousands of deaths annually from overdoses due to illicit drugs, as well as firearms and gang violence.”
Organized crime groups began shifting their efforts to producing domestic fentanyl as opposed to importing it from overseas about five years ago, according to the RCMP.
As fentanyl imports from abroad began to slow down in 2019, gangs began producing within Canada to keep up with the demand but now produce enough to export it in large quantities.
The RCMP busted what it called the “largest and most sophisticated” drug-production laboratory in Canadian history last November. The “super lab” as they called it was being operated by an international organized crime network.
The illicit facility was located in Falkland, a rural community east of Kamloops, B.C. According to Mounties, the facility could produce several kilograms of methamphetamine, fentanyl and MDMA weekly.
U.S. President Trump cited the import of fentanyl from Canada among the reasons for his pledge to impose punitive 25% tariffs on all Canadian products being shipped south of the border, which will tentatively take effect on Feb. 1.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre addressed Trump’s concerns in a statement released on Tuesday.
“Things have gotten so bad that Canada has become a source country for dangerous drugs like meth, fentanyl and MDMA. In the Canadian organized crime supply chain for dangerous drugs, there are as many as 90 importers, 61 manufacturers, 527 domestic distributors and 15 exporters,” he said.
Canada also now has over 70 organized crime groups that smuggle illegal guns over the American border, with the most significant points of entry being in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and Manitoba.
The Conservatives have been calling for measures to address Canada’s border security issues and ongoing fentanyl crisis since last fall when they introduced a motion that the government implement various changes to protect Canadians from deadly drugs.
Among the proposals is reversing the “catch-and-release Bill C-5,” which removed mandatory jail time for some violent offenders.