The Addiction Crisis in Repentigny

Repentigny is a city of approximately 85,000 people in the Sud de Lanaudière region of Quebec, located northeast of Montreal. No city-level overdose death statistics specific to Repentigny are publicly available. The city is served by the CISSS de Lanaudière, which operates a Centre de réadaptation en dépendance (CRD) at 155 rue Notre-Dame, Repentigny — providing outpatient and inpatient addiction treatment, opioid agonist therapy (methadone, Suboxone), and harm reduction services. The CRD recently opened a dedicated induction room for patients beginning opioid substitution treatment, signaling growing local demand. Community organizations in the region also distribute naloxone kits and offer street outreach.

Nationally, Canada recorded approximately 7,150 apparent opioid-related deaths in 2024, a decline of roughly 17% from the 2023 peak of ~7,560 (PHAC). This national improvement was driven largely by falling deaths in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador are outliers, with both provinces seeing continued increases. Quebec accounts for a growing share of Canada's opioid burden despite having a smaller proportion of the overall illicit drug supply contamination seen in western provinces.

01. What is happening in Repentigny

Note: City-specific data for Repentigny is limited. Figures reflect Quebec-wide trends.

02. A crisis that did not start this month

Quebec is experiencing a worsening opioid crisis that runs counter to national trends. While apparent opioid-related deaths dropped 23% nationally in 2024–2025, Quebec saw its numbers rise to record highs. The INSPQ recorded 645 confirmed or suspected drug overdose deaths in Quebec in 2024 — the highest annual total ever recorded in the province. Between January and September 2025, 453 deaths were already logged, projecting approximately 604 deaths for the full year. Fentanyl or analogues were detected in nearly two-thirds of opioid deaths, up from 33% in 2017. Quebec's diverging trajectory from the rest of Canada has prompted urgent calls from public health officials for expanded harm reduction infrastructure.

03. Why is it getting worse?

Quebec's worsening overdose crisis is driven by several intersecting factors: (1) rapid contamination of the illicit drug supply with fentanyl and its analogues, which now appear in roughly two-thirds of overdose deaths; (2) a comparatively slower rollout of supervised consumption sites and harm reduction infrastructure compared to British Columbia and Ontario; (3) a drug market historically dominated by heroin and prescription opioids that is now transitioning to more unpredictable synthetic opioids; (4) social determinants including poverty, housing instability, and isolation — particularly in suburban and peri-urban communities like those in the Lanaudière region; and (5) stigma barriers that delay help-seeking, especially outside major urban centres.

04. Where hope still lives

Communities across Quebec are responding with naloxone distribution, harm reduction programs, and peer support networks.

05. In the news

• Drug overdose deaths in Canada are dropping. So why is Quebec nearing a record high?CBC News · 2024
• Quebec on pace to record back-to-back years with 600 drug overdose deathsCBC News · 2025
• Opioid deaths fall nationwide, rise in Quebec and N.L.The Globe and Mail · 2025
• Opioid deaths dropped 23% in 2025 — bringing cautious optimism from Canada's top doctorCBC News · 2025
• Une nouvelle salle d'induction ouvre au Centre de réadaptation en dépendance de RepentignyLanauWeb · 2024
• Has Quebec entered a new era of drug-related deaths?UdeM Nouvelles · 2024