A driver who suffered an apparent opioid overdose while driving on a major Calgary expressway collided with nine vehicles before he stopped breathing and needed to be revived by first responders using naloxone.

Police began receiving calls just before 9:30 p.m. Wednesday that a minivan driving west on Glenmore Trail had crashed into numerous vehicles.

The minivan exited at 37th Street S.W., where it crashed into a truck and stopped.

When the first officers arrived moments later, the driver had stopped breathing and a police officer had to use naloxone, a drug that can temporarily reverse an overdose of fentanyl or other opioids.

"[Naloxone] was used to bring him back," said Det. Keith Silvester.

"I'd say [it's] very, very lucky that someone wasn't seriously injured or killed. It was extremely dangerous to everyone involved."

A damaged minivan is towed away after a driver suffered an apparent overdose while travelling on Glenmore Trail. Naloxone was used to revive the man. (Mike Symington/CBC)

The man began breathing again after the naloxone was administered and he was taken to hospital.

Silvester said the driver, believed to be in his 30s, could face a number of charges.

The vehicle was not reported stolen but the driver was not the registered owner.

Alberta is in the middle of an opioid crisis.

Fentanyl, 100 times more powerful than morphine, is the leading cause of opioid overdose deaths in the province.

The drug killed 113 people in Alberta in the first three months of 2017. In 2016, 363 people in Alberta died from fentanyl.

But reports from Alberta Health also show deaths from carfentanil are also on a sharp increase. Carfentanil, which is 10,000 times more powerful than morphine, was found in 21 of the 113 deaths in the first three months of 2017.

Calgary firefighters began being issued naloxone kits in December to help reduce the death toll caused by fentanyl overdoses and the force says they're using them on average once a day.

The Calgary police service also began issuing kits in 2017 and a naloxone kit training program wrapped up in June.

Naloxone kits are also available to the public in Alberta. Anybody can walk into a pharmacy and receive a free kit and training on how to use it.