Deaths involving fentanyl in Canada, 2009-2014 / : Décès impliquant le fentanyl au Canada, de 2009 à 2014

Given increasing concerns about harms associated with fentanyl from both illicit and pharmaceutical sources, and the lack of national data on deaths involving fentanyl, the CCENDU network decided to collect and collate the number of deaths involving fentanyl from across Canada over the years spanning 2009 to 2014 to better understand this evolving situation and to plan for appropriate intervention [...] PageP 3a g e 3 Fentanyl-detected Deaths in Illicit Circumstances CCENDU Bulletin: Deaths Involving Fentanyl in Canada, 2009-2014 Alberta Between 2011 and 2014 there were a total of Alberta 162 fentanyl-detected and 61 fentanyl-implicated 120 Fentanyl-detected deaths deaths in Alberta from the “unclassified” manner Fentanyl-implicated deaths of death category (Figure 3).5 When including pending cas [...] By mid-May 2015, the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner of Alberta reported 110 deaths Figure 3. Number of unclassified,5 fentanyl-detected and fentanyl-implicated deaths in Alberta from 2011 to 2014 where fentanyl was detected and implicated in an “abuse” situation. [...] Figure 5. The number of accidental or undetermined, fentanyl-detected and fentanyl-implicated deaths in These data were provided by the Winnipeg CCENDU site Manitoba from 2009 to 2013 coordinator using information obtained from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for Manitoba. [...] PageP 6a g e 6 CCENDU Bulletin: Deaths Involving Fentanyl in Canada, 2009-2014 Discussion The data reported by the different jurisdictions were not comparable due to different definitions used for deaths involving fentanyl, different manners of death included in the count of deaths, and differences in missing data over the years examined.