Good news: drug deaths continue decline for sixth consecutive quarter

By Tom Parkin

January 6th, 2026

BURLINGTON, ON

Are interventions working? Is use declining? Or are the drugs less lethal?

Canada’s drug death toll decline slowed pace in Q2

Number of deaths attributed to opioids and stimulants in Canada, by quarter.

The rate of death from opioids, stimulants and other drugs fell for the sixth consecutive quarter up to June, 2025, though the previous rapid pace of decline has recently slowed, according to data collected by provinces and released by Health Canada in December.

Lives lost to opioids from April to June, 2025, were down 32 per cent from the crisis peak. Stimulant deaths were down 62 per cent from peak. Methamphetamine and cocaine were the major causes of stimulant deaths.

Lives taken by opioids and stimulants in Q2 2025 were:

• down 6% from the previous quarter, Q1 2025
• down 39% from same quarter last year, Q2 2024
• down 44% from the crisis peak, Q4 2023.

Still, opioids killed 1,384 people in Canada from April 1 to June 30 last year. Stimulants killed at least 552 people, though data from Alberta, PEI and Quebec were not reported.

672 fewer lives lost to opioids than in peak crisis quarter

Opioid deaths were down in four of eight provinces with data, but even in those where deaths increased in Q2, the numbers remain well below the peaks of 2023 and 2024. Q2 data for PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador was suppressed, indicating fewer than five deaths.

The largest increase in lost lives was in British Columbia, where opioid deaths increased nine per cent from Q1. But opioid deaths in BC remain down 20 per cent from their peak in Q2 2024.

At its Canada-wide peak in Q4 2021, opioids killed 2,056 people, about 23 every day. In the latest quarter lives lost to opioids were down 32 per cent from peak. But that is still 15 people every day.

Opioid deaths, quarterly (Note each chart has an independent scale)
Stimulant deaths down 62% from crisis peak

Stimulant deaths have fallen even more dramatically, taking 914 fewer lives, or 62 per cent fewer, than at peak. Deaths in Ontario have fallen 49 per cent from peak. The biggest drop has been in British Columbia where deaths have fallen by 88 per cent from its peak.

Stimulant deaths.

Stimulant deaths, quarterly, from provinces reported (Note each chart has an independent scale)

Men in their 30s have the highest rate of drug death

Men are killed by opioids at a rate double that of women, a longstanding pattern. But the age of those dying has shifted.

In 2017, 20 per cent of those killed were in their 20s, but that group accounted for 14 per cent of those killed in the first half of 2025. Those over 60 and those in their 40s are a growing proportion of deaths. However, in absolute numbers, deaths have plunged among all age groups.

Demographics