Death toll for toxic drugs in B.C. surpasses 1,000 in first 5 months of the year

The death toll for illicit drug overdoses in British Columbia has surpassed 1,000 people just five months into the year.

A statement from the B.C. Coroners Service says the 176 deaths in May pushed the toll to 1,018 people who have overdosed due to unregulated drugs.

The service says illicit drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in B.C. for people between the ages of 10 to 59, surpassing homicides, suicides, accidents and natural diseases combined.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says expedited testing shows the powerful opioid fentanyl was present in almost nine of 10 results, nearly double the rate of methamphetamine and cocaine.

Lapointe says that as long as people rely on the profit-driven unregulated market to access their drugs, their lives will be at risk.

A public health emergency was declared in April 2016, and since then, the service says at least 12,264 B.C. residents have died from overdoses.

More than 32,000 Canadians have died of toxic drug overdoses since 2016, according to data released by Health Canada in December.

Over 3,500 people died of overdoses in the first six months of 2022. The figure equates to nearly 20 people per day and more than half the number of people who died of overdoses during the first year of the pandemic.

Illicit fentanyl remains a driving factor in overdose deaths. 

Health Canada said the opioid was involved in 76 per cent of all overdose deaths, though an increasing number of overdose deaths involve more than one substance.