Greater Victoria sees 8 suspected drug overdose deaths in a week
Morphine, heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine found in one confirmed overdose case
The B.C. Coroners Service says drugs are likely the cause of eight deaths in Greater Victoria over the past week.
"That's quite a bit higher than we would expect in a one week period," said coroner Barb McLintock.
She says five men and three women have died of suspected overdoses in several communities, including Saanich, Langford and Sooke, between December 20 and 26.
The only confirmed overdose is a man who died in a downtown Victoria parkade last Saturday, and was found to have a mixed cocktail of drugs in his system, including morphine, heroin, fentanyl and methamphetamine.
The coroner is still waiting on toxicology reports for the other seven deaths.
"It would appear most of them, if not all, of these unfortunate people who died were regular experienced drug users," said McLintock.
Other agencies such as police have also reported seeing a number of overdoses where people survived.
With files from Kamil Karamali.