The problem will only get worse due to opioids being cut with other substances, which inject a far greater risk of overdose, experts say.

An increasingly toxic drug supply means 2023 will be Alberta’s deadliest year for opioid overdoses, an addictions physician said Friday.

The latest figures on drug fatalities in the province — which overwhelmingly involve opioids — put the number to the end of October of last year at 1,565, which, if that trend holds would be 1,878 deaths for 2023, or 13 per cent more than the current record year of 2021.

Figuring in population growth, that would be 40.8 fatalities per 100,000 person-years a month in the province, about three per cent more than in 2021.