By Trevor Greenway

Drug overdoses continue to wreak havoc on the province, and the Outaouais region is not spared when it comes to those who have died from opioids and other substances. 

According to the CISSS de l’Outaouais, 227 people died “potentially due to an overdose” from opioids or other substances in the region between 2018 and 2023. Mid-pandemic times – 2020 and 2022 – showed the most significant proportion of overdose deaths, with 45 fatalities in each of those years. 

The data comes as the Quebec Statistics Institute (QSI) released its report on life expectancy in the province, which has dire outlooks. 

According to the report, while life expectancy is returning to pre-pandemic levels, opioids continue to be the leading cause of the rise in deaths among 25 to 44-year-olds.

According to the QSI, overdose-related death rates in that age group are now higher than motor vehicle accidents, homicide or femicide. 

According to Stats Canada, more than 40,000 people across the country have died from opioid use, with 22 people dying every day from the powerful drugs. The federal agency notes that paramedics, on average, make 121 emergency interventions every day for patients who have suspected opioid-related overdoses. Opioid deaths are on the rise, with an eight per cent jump in fatalities from 2022 to 2023. 

One of those victims was Wakefield’s own Jessamy Hogan-Lucuik, who died in 2020 from an accidental fentanyl overdose in Kingston, Ont. She was just 27 years old when she died. 

According to the CISSSO’s 2020-21 Quebec Population Health Survey, 15 per cent of Outaouais residents aged 15 and over reported “having consumed opioids that had been prescribed to them in the year preceding the survey.” 

The data did not include opioid use from the illicit market.