P.A. tops Canada for cocaine/meth load in wastewater
In a dubious first place finish, recently released numbers from Statistics Canada show Prince Albert having the highest amount of certain drugs in municipal wastewater in Canada.
Three separate graphs using per 100,000 numbers, show Prince Albert as having the highest levels of cocaine, methamphetamine and amphetamines in the country, with Saskatoon coming in second when it comes to meth and amphetamine use.
In a related article on its website, Statistics Canada says the use of stimulant drugs such as cocaine is contributing significantly to overdose deaths, with a 30 per cent increase in overdoses between 2020 and 2021 alone.
“The latest report from the Public Health Agency of Canada on opioid- and stimulant-related harms in Canada indicates that approximately half of apparent accidental opioid toxicity deaths also involved a stimulant,” the agency said.