
“The lack of information that is being shared is highly concerning and obscures some of our ability to assess what is actually going on in terms of substance use and those harms in Saskatchewan.”
Alec Salloum
Regina Leader-Post
Claudette Alexson carried a portrait of her son Vince as she walked down 5th Avenue in Regina for a recent procession to honour those who’ve died from drug overdoses.
Her son — known as Vinny to friends and family — struggled with addiction. In October 2023, he left a drug treatment program. On Dec. 2 of the same year, he succumbed to his addiction.
“He was 35 years old when he passed away; he would be 36 now,” said Alexson. “Everybody loved him — everybody. All of our family loved him, and we all miss him.”
Alexson’s son was someone family and friends would look to for help — be it landscaping, tinkering around the house or fixing something.
“Whatever work they needed done, they just had to get a hold of Vinny,” said Alexson. “He was very generous, very thoughtful, very loving, very kind when he was good, but sometimes he would go off on his drugs and be gone for days. He wouldn’t come around then. He always stayed away.”

Signs made for deceased loved ones sit on a table at the fourth annual Memorial Smudge Walk for those affected by the toxic drug supply on Jan. 21, 2025 in Regina.
On Jan. 21, Alexson honoured her son by joining a large group of families who took part in the fourth annual Smudge Walk through Regina’s North Central neighbourhood. Some carried butterflies decorated with names of loved ones and two definitive dates — birth and death. Others carried posters with photos and names, listing the relationship each person had with the one they lost: brother, daughter, mother, uncle, husband, sister.
Some of those being mourned were as young as 16.
“I’m walking for the souls that couldn’t,” read one sign.
While the resounding emotion of the day was grief from the loss of loved ones, there was also an expressed desire for things to improve, for there to be change.
Perhaps indicating some reason for optimism: The number of drug toxicity deaths in Saskatchewan hit a four-year low in 2024. Although the Saskatchewan government and researchers can’t say exactly why, it’s an important question to answer as the losses continue to mount.
At Regina’s Newo Yotina Friendship Centre (NYFC), a federally exempt safe consumption site, it appeared to those on the frontline that the supply of illicit drugs in the province was less potent and tainted this past year.
At the same time, usage and the number of people accessing things like safe consumption sites remained stable.
“I think personally, the drug supply, the drug toxicity, isn’t as bad,” said Émile Gariépy, harm reduction manager at NYFC.
Gariépy said in 2023 the province saw a supply of fentanyl laced with xylazine, which prevented the efficacy of naloxone, a fast-acting medication used to temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
Since then, the crisis seems to have stabilized.
“It’s been a pretty mellow year, really,” he said. “Low amount of overdoses this summer. We almost see none, which is awesome.”
Using a spectrometer, Gariépy tests small amounts of drugs being consumed at the centre to screen for harmful substances.
In 2024, Gariépy says he couldn’t recall sending any notifications to the Provincial Drug Alert System, which informs communities about tainted drugs present in their area. Meanwhile, three alerts were sent by Prairie Harm Reduction (PHR), a Saskatoon safe consumption site.
“I’m not seeing them right now but that’s not to say that they’re not out there,” said Gariépy.
The Regina Police Service (RPS) emphasized that all fentanyl is dangerous — a point Gariépy does not dispute — while citing the importance of its role in getting drugs off the streets.
“The Regina Police Service saw the largest amount of illicit fentanyl seized in 2024 than any other year,” RPS said in an email. “The number of fatal overdoses can be impacted by many things which include: police enforcement, Naloxone or Narcan use and availability (for treatment), public and user awareness, as well as community programming and support.”
RPS officers attended 330 calls for apparent overdoses in 2024. In 73 of those cases, Narcan was administered by police.
Saskatchewan’s most up-to-date figures on drug toxicity show 336 deaths in 2024 — 218 confirmed and 128 suspected — which is a four-year low. In 2023, the province recorded 422 confirmed deaths and 37 suspected, making it the deadliest year on record.
By comparison, there were 325 total deaths in 2020.
“The supply is always a big thing and I do find a lot more people are testing their drugs, especially at the safe consumption site,” said Miranda Deck, engagement manager at PHR — billed as Saskatchewan’s first safe consumption site.
“They’re a bit more aware of what’s going on in the batch.”
But what’s happening in one city isn’t necessarily the same everywhere. While Regina’s numbers have been trending in a positive direction, PHR has already alerted the community in Saskatoon this year about a drug supply causing a heightened number of overdoses.
Responding to an interview request about the number of drug toxicity deaths in 2024, the Saskatchewan Coroners Service (SCS) offered the following statement via email: “The numbers are showing a decline in 2024. However, while this is encouraging, it would be premature to speculate on what might be behind this trend.”
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Barbara Fornssler, assistant professor at the University of Saskatchewan’s school of public health, said the decrease in overdose deaths is heartening but the lack of answers as to why requires exploration.
Canada-wide, opioid toxicity deaths were down 11 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023.
“I’d like to see some data regarding the number of total overdose or poisoning numbers, rather than only mortality from the coroner’s office,” said Fornssler, noting that additional data could provide more information on what usage looks like, how many overdoses can be reversed through intervention, and if the substances present in the community are less toxic.
“That might be a potentially better indicator of what’s happening in the community overall.”
Asked for total overdose numbers, the Ministry of Health said it “does not track non-fatal overdoses province-wide.”
Fornssler said part of the equation regarding Saskatchewan’s lower numbers could be the presence of naloxone and a greater saturation of people who know how to reverse overdoses.
The Leader-Post also reached out to the provincial government to inquire whether its policy change to no longer provide glass pipes to drug users might have contributed to a decline.
“It would be premature to speculate on any single change leading to this trend,” the government responded, while emphasizing its previously stated position on the addiction/overdose crisis: “Providing devices to use illicit drugs works against our goal of improving the pathway to recovery.”
Through policy introduced in early 2024, the Ministry of Health has opted for what it calls a “recovery-oriented system of care.” Then-minister of mental health and addictions Tim McLeod opposed the old practice of handing out pipes and providing information to users about safe consumption of illicit substances.
“Instead, the message coming from the health-care system should be that there is hope for recovery, and there is help available through treatment,” he said in a press release at the time.
The province says its plan is to add more recovery beds and make it easier for people to get into treatment.
Critics of this approach note that a person can’t get help if they’re dead, and things like harm reduction can keep a person safer until they decide to seek treatment.
“We’ve handed out so much naloxone,” said Deck. “We’ve done quite a bit of education and training over the last year, like a lot more than we have in previous years.”
But without more data, Fornssler said researchers will be grasping at straws to determine what has worked to bring down the overdose numbers.
The Saskatchewan Ministry of Health says that data isn’t available.
“There is no single consistent method of accurately tracking non-fatal overdoses province-wide because of the various circumstances in which an overdose might take place and not be reported to the province,” read an emailed response.
The ministry said it has expanded naloxone provision to community sources, which could have contributed to fewer overdose deaths in 2024. But tracking that usage is difficult, it says.
“When Naloxone is administered by a private citizen in the community, and EMS or hospital services are not accessed, that non-fatal overdose would not be reported. Therefore, the Ministry would not be aware of that non-fatal overdose.”
In Fornssler’s mind, a lack of information means an unfinished picture as the province looks to the past in anticipation of the coming year. While drug overdoses continue, she feels better information could save lives.
“Understanding those drivers is really going to be about our ability to access information as researchers, to understand that fuller picture,” added Fornssler. “The lack of information that is being shared is highly concerning and obscures some of our ability to assess what is actually going on in terms of substance use and those harms in Saskatchewan.”