Canada could have more than four-thousand deaths from opioid overdoses this year.
The Public Health Agency says in the first half of the year, at least 14-hundred-and-60 Canadians died from opioid-related overdoses.
The agency published the figure even though not all provinces have reported final data for the period.
Dr. Theresa Tam, the country's chief public health officer, says Ontario, Quebec and Manitoba have yet to report all of their opioid-related overdose deaths for the first half of the year.
But based on figures reported by the other provinces and territories, Tam said the number of overdose deaths are on pace to surpass four-thousand by the end of the year.
That is far above last year's tally of two-thousand-and-861 opioid-related fatalities.
Tam says fentanyl is blamed in 75 per cent of opioid-related deaths so far this year -- up from 53 per cent last year.
Tam also says fentanyl is ``such a toxic drug that there is no second chance.''