Sask. coroner reports fewer overdose deaths in 2025, spike in deaths last month

Overdose deaths in the province were down in 2025, new data from the Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service shows. Keenan Sorokan reports.

Overdose deaths in the province were down in 2025, new data from the Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service shows.

But despite a slight decrease in total deaths over the course of the year, a closer look at the data reveals it’s too soon to celebrate.

Total suspected and confirmed deaths from drug toxicity were down about four per cent last year compared to 2024 — from 346 to 331. Yet just last month, the coroner reported a surge in fatal overdoses, with 28 people dead from suspected drug toxicity, compared to 18 in December 2024.

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The most recent numbers are preliminary and could be subject to change, according to the coroner.

Saskatoon Police chief Cam McBride says the decline in deaths is partly due to increased Naloxone use and increased awareness of overdose.

“The amount of naloxone currently in the community is very high,” he said. “Compared to years previous, people understand how to recognize an overdose, how to utilize naloxone in order to, reverse the effects of an overdose and I think just that public awareness of what’s happening is leading to a decreasing number of deaths in today’s environment.”

The province invested heavily in Naloxone over the last year. Through the April 1 to March 31 reporting period, the province has steadily increased its supply of take home naloxone kits since 2020-21.

That year, 10,362 kits were made available. So far during the 2025-2026 year, 22,937 kits have been distributed, and that number could increase before the end of March.

“I think public awareness is very significant in that realm,” McBride said.

Of the confirmed cases last year, the majority of victims tested positive for some variation of the synthetic opioid fentanyl.

The presence of other sedatives mixed in with drugs sold as fentanyl is a major contributor to overdoses among drug users, since they do not respond to naloxone — a widely-available antidote to opioid poisoning.

The Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service reported approximately half as many deaths involving sedative benzodiazepines last year compared to 2024, when it first began tracking the substance in overdose cases.

Over the past year, Saskatchewan Health has noted spikes in overdoses from street drugs that included other, untracked additives like medetomidine and xylazine.

Regina and Saskatoon facing different circumstances

Data from fire departments in Saskatoon and Regina show two different stories unfolding. Between 2023 and 2024, firefighters were responding to a similar number of overdoses in both cities.

In 2023, Regina fire responded to 1,665 overdose calls compared to 1,142 the following year.

Saskatoon fire responded to 1,301 overdose calls in 2023 and 1,281 in 2024.

In 2025, Regina fire responded to 900 overdose calls, the lowest number since the department began tracking the call type in 2021.

In Saskatoon, overdose calls more than doubled to 2,512 calls — nearly 210 per month and almost seven per 24-hour shift.

“It just seems like an endless supply continues to flow in,” McBride said.

There is currently an overdose alert in place in the city of Saskatoon, where the Ministry of Health says a dark blue substance sold as fentanyl has caused six overdoses in the last three days.

The ministry says one sample tested positive for a mixture of fentanyl and medetomidine.

Between late February and mid-March last year, Saskatoon first responders received hundreds of overdose calls in a roughly one-month span as number drug alerts were issued from the Ministry of Health about an increased risk of overdose in the community. At one point, the city saw an average of 19 overdoses every day.

With an added focus — and additional funding — on drug enforcement from the provincial government last year, officers continue to put more efforts into trafficking and removing illicit drugs.

Regina Police Chief Lorilee Davies says the number of arrests may not reflect the significant work happening across the city.

“Sometimes those investigations just take time,” she said. “So I don’t think that the amount of charges reflects the work that’s happening in the community.”