Alberta's opioid crisis deepens as EMS responds to record 10,562 calls in 2025

Alberta's toxic drug supply is putting unprecedented strain on emergency medical services, with the province recording a record 10,562 opioid-related EMS responses in 2025 — the highest number on record.

Edmonton is at the epicentre of the crisis, accounting for nearly 70 per cent of the province's opioid-related EMS responses. Dr. Monty Ghosh, an addictions physician and associate professor at the University of Alberta, said the city has become the "hottest spot" in Canada when it comes to overdose rates and mortality events.

The drug supply itself is evolving and becoming more lethal. The presence of carfentanil — a substance more than 100 times stronger than fentanyl — in Edmonton's opioid-related deaths jumped dramatically from 17 per cent in 2024 to 89 per cent in 2025. By comparison, carfentanil appeared in only 28 per cent of Calgary's opioid-related deaths in 2025 and just one per cent in 2024.

New substances such as cychlorphine, part of a class of opioids called orphines that could be up to 10 times more potent than fentanyl, are further complicating treatment. "We're doing medicine on the fly, in some respects, to manage and mitigate these concerns," Ghosh said. Health care professionals are treating patients for multiple substance withdrawals simultaneously, each requiring its own protocol — a process especially difficult to manage in outpatient settings.

The province has shut down several supervised-consumption sites across Alberta, including one at the Royal Alexandra Hospital in central Edmonton. Ghosh warned that addiction treatment requires a spectrum of services and closing these sites will cause a spike in EMS callouts and hospitalizations.

In 2025, there were 12,812 substance-related emergency department visits, compared to 10,957 in 2024. Despite the increased EMS responses and hospitalizations, opioid-related deaths have been trending downwards: Alberta recorded 1,154 deaths in 2025, the lowest since 2019.