Quebec is on pace to record 600 deaths from drug overdose in the past few years

Quebec’s drug overdose death toll is expected to surpass 600 for the second year in a row, and experts are calling on the province to do more to curb the trend.

The province’s public health institute, known as INSPQ, recorded 645 confirmed or suspected drug overdose deaths in 2024 — the highest number ever recorded in Quebec.

So far in 2025, INSPQ has reported 453 deaths between January and September. This results in an estimated 604 deaths a year.

People who work directly with people struggling with drug addiction say demand for help is increasing.

However, the resources are not there.

‘Data don’t lie’

Anthony Berger is a clinical supervisor at Dunham House in the Eastern Townships of Quebec.

They say applications for the English-language residential treatment facility for substance abuse and mental health are expected to increase by about 16 percent in both 2024 and 2025.

But Berger says they only have a facility with 38 beds.

“We can’t accommodate everyone in such large numbers, okay? So where do these people go?” Berger said.

He says the Quebec government needs to make significant contributions and investments in treatment centers where they have experienced cuts.

“Treatment centers like ours need even more money to attract professionals,” Berger said.

“Some people will continue to go untreated…they will continue to treat their mental health struggles through substance abuse which continues that vicious cycle.”

He says people talk about the need for continuity of care – including social housing and drug supply security, but he says this is really “part of prevention”.

“This is not new in Quebec,” he said. “The statistics don’t lie.”

But medical and addictions-based services are falling short for English-speakers in the province, says Berger. In 2024, the MUHC’s addiction psychiatry program in Montreal closed.

“Those who exist become overwhelmed, as do we,” Berger said. “There aren’t too many centers like ours.”

When an anglophone is looking for residential inpatient care for addiction or mental health in Quebec, Berger said, “We’re probably the only one that exists right now for affordability.”

Quebec is nowhere near as bad as BC, but the trend is worrying

Quebec’s statistics for drug overdoses are significantly lower than provinces like B.C.h was More than 2,000 deaths from toxic drugs in 2024.

Patricia Conrad, a professor of psychiatry and addiction at the Université de Montreal, says Quebec’s numbers are going in a different direction than other provinces that have traditionally struggled with high rates of drug overdoses, such as B.C.

The data shows that perhaps one of the strongest drivers for the decline in the opioid crisis in other provinces was the fact that some had “so many deaths,” Conrad says.

He said, “There were very few people left who were users to be affected in this way. It’s really, you know, a very sad situation.”

Conrad says Quebec “hasn’t reached that saturation level yet.”

“And we need to be proactive to make sure we don’t get to that point,” Conrad said. who is the Canada Research Chair in Preventive Mental Health and Addiction.

“I think everything is fine at the moment in Quebec and New Brunswick, where you are seeing a similar increase in this unfortunate trend.“

In an emailed statement, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Health and Social Services said deaths related to opioids and other drugs “are concerning and are being closely monitored.”

The ministry says the situation is changing rapidly with the growing illicit market – particularly with drug contamination no longer limited to opioids.

Decisions, public opinion affecting services

From what she sees at her workplace, Jade Lalumiere says It appears that the number of addicts is increasing.

“Every year that goes by, it’s getting worse,” says lalumiereTeam leader at the Maison Benoit-Labre shelter and supervised drug consumption site in the Sud-Ouest borough of Montreal.

Its drug consumption site faced public scrutiny after parents and nearby residents said they had witnessed overt drug use, aggressive behavior and sexual conduct from clients of the center – located next to an elementary school.

site could Will be forced to relocate. A provincial law passed last fall states that substance abuse centers cannot be located within 150 meters of a school or daycare.

While Montreal police numbers linked the shelter to an increase in mischief and more calls to emergency services in 2024, a A January 2025 study by researchers at McGill University Data analyzed from Toronto found that consumption sites were not associated with long-term crime increases.

Lalumiere says public perception can have a direct impact on services for people struggling with addictionn If people vote for policies that limit access or oppose a safe-supply approach – one that provides prescribed and regulated medicines to people who use them as a safe alternative.

“What’s the one thing that reduces the number of people losing their lives due to drug addiction,” he said.

“To make this decision is about us and about our users… we’re just trying our best to keep them alive.”