The Saskatchewan Coroners Service reports 26 people died of drug toxicity from January to March of this year, with another 87 deaths suspected to have the same cause.The report released April 4 showed Regina had the most confirmed deaths at 16, followed by Saskatoon at six. Most people died from opioids, such as fentanyl, and were indigenous. The casualties were mostly between the ages of 20 and 50, though one teen also died after using opioids.There were 484 confirmed and suspected drug toxicity deaths in Saskatchewan in 2023. The province is on pace for 452 such deaths in 2024.On Thursday, ministers for mental health and addictions in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Ontario announced an agreement to partner up and work together in "building systems of care that focus on recovery."In a news release, the Government of Alberta said the partnership will focus on recovery-oriented care, share best practices between the provinces, partner with indigenous communities and push the federal government for investment and policies that support recovery.Tim McLeod, Saskatchewan's minister of mental health and addictions, seniors and rural and remote health, addressed the coroners' statistics at a news conference in Calgary on Thursday."Every death due to an overdose is a tragedy. A single loss of life is a tragedy," McLeod said, as reported by CBC.The minister was asked how Saskatchewan would help the addicted who do not want treatment."Those individuals may not be prepared or ready to walk the path to recovery, and that's why we've continued to invest in our take-away naloxone program where 40,000 individuals have been trained to administer naloxone at 400 locations across the province. Those kits are available. And we've successfully reversed 10,000 overdoses," McLeod said. The 2024 numbers come as a supervised consumption site and drop-in centre in Saskatoon announced it would reduce its hours. Prairie Harm Reduction will close its doors at 4 p.m. instead of 10 p.m., beginning in May. The site gets $65,000 in donations.A government spokesperson told CBC the province funds more than "$2.2 million for Prairie Harm Reduction to deliver outreach and peer support programming, an intensive in-home support program for at-risk families, and a supportive living program for at-risk individuals in Saskatoon," but does not fund drug consumption sites.
