The Addiction Crisis in Terrebonne

No city-level overdose data is publicly available for Terrebonne, Quebec specifically. Terrebonne is the largest municipality in the Lanaudiere administrative region (population approximately 120,000), served by the CISSS de Lanaudiere health authority. The CISSS de Lanaudiere maintains an active overdose prevention program for psychoactive substances and community harm reduction outreach, but regional mortality statistics broken down to the municipal level are not published in accessible public databases. The provincial picture — in which Quebec as a whole is experiencing a record-breaking surge — applies to the Lanaudiere region in which Terrebonne sits.

Canada recorded approximately 7,150 apparent opioid toxicity deaths in 2024, down from a peak of roughly 7,560 in 2023 (PHAC). The national trend is cautiously declining, driven by significant drops in British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario — the three provinces that bore the brunt of the earlier fentanyl wave. Quebec and Newfoundland and Labrador are the notable exceptions, both recording increases in 2024. Quebec's death rate of 7.3 per 100,000 (2024) remains below the national average but is rising sharply while the rest of Canada falls. Canada's Fentanyl Czar released an interim report in June 2025 noting that fentanyl remains the primary driver of opioid deaths nationally, with the illicit supply becoming more complex and dangerous over time.

01. What is happening in Terrebonne

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

02. A crisis that did not start this month

Quebec recorded 645 confirmed or suspected drug overdose deaths in 2024, the highest annual total in the province's history, according to the Institut national de sante publique du Quebec (INSPQ). This represents a 33% increase over the same nine-month period in 2023 and bucks the national trend: Canada as a whole saw a national decline of approximately 11% in opioid deaths in the first half of 2024. Fentanyl or its analogues were detected in nearly two-thirds of Quebec overdose deaths by late 2024, up from 33% in 2017. A key driver is the contamination of the stimulant (crack cocaine) supply with fentanyl — a pattern already well-established in western Canada that arrived in Quebec more recently. The annual overdose death rate in Quebec rose from 5.1 per 100,000 people in 2018 to 7.3 per 100,000 by 2024. Projections for 2025 suggest approximately 600 deaths province-wide, potentially a second consecutive record year.

03. Why is it getting worse?

Three interconnected factors are driving Quebec's record overdose surge. First, fentanyl contamination has spread from the opioid supply into stimulants: drug suppliers began adulterating crack cocaine with fentanyl, exposing stimulant users — many of whom have no opioid tolerance — to a drug roughly 100 times more potent than morphine. Second, Quebec is experiencing a delayed version of the toxic drug supply crisis that devastated British Columbia and Alberta years earlier; the province's geographic position and border dynamics temporarily slowed fentanyl's arrival, but it is now firmly established. Third, the illicit supply has become increasingly heterogeneous, with high-potency nitazenes and benzodiazepines added alongside fentanyl, making each exposure unpredictable and harder to reverse even with naloxone. Structural factors include limited supervised consumption infrastructure compared to western Canada, lower rates of opioid agonist therapy (methadone, buprenorphine) uptake, and persistent stigma that discourages people from seeking help before a crisis.

04. Where hope still lives

Communities across Quebec are responding with naloxone distribution, harm reduction programs, and peer support networks. Every person trained in naloxone use is a potential life saved.

05. In the news

The reporting behind this page:

• Quebec on pace to record back-to-back years with 600 drug overdose deathsCBC News · 2025
• Drug overdose deaths in Canada are dropping. So why is Quebec nearing a record high?CBC News · 2024
• Overdose deaths in Quebec are on the rise, and the problem could get worseCBC News · 2025
• How to fight Quebec's toxic drug problem? A former user says change the conversationCBC News · 2025
• Has Quebec entered a new era of drug-related deaths?UdeM Nouvelles (University of Montreal) · 2024-08-30
• Overdose Epidemic in Quebec: Population-Level Approaches and Clinical ImplicationsMDPI (peer-reviewed journal) · 2024