By the end of this month, the death toll of British Columbia’s toxic drug supply could surpass the total recorded in all of 2016—when the province first declared a public health emergency over the overdose crisis.
The BC Coroners Service released last month’s numbers on Thursday, which shows 206 people died of an illicit drug overdose, bringing this year’s total to 814.
APRIL DATA
Last April was the deadliest on record since reporting began in 2013, and only 21 fatalities short of the highest number ever reported in December 2021.
In April 2016, when B.C. declared a public health emergency over illicit drug deaths, 73 fatalities were recorded, while the death toll of that year was 995.
At least 12,046 British Columbians have died from toxic drugs in the seven years since.
April 2023 represents the 31st consecutive month in which more than 150 deaths have been recorded, and the 13th month that saw the total climb past 200.
When looking at the daily death rate linked to toxic drugs, about 6.9 British Columbians lost their lives every 24 hours last month.
WHO’S DYING?
Vancouver Coastal and Fraser health authorities have recorded the highest number of unregulated drug deaths so far this year—257 and 221, respectively—representing 59 percent of the province’s yearly toll.
The highest rate of death, however, has been in Northern Health, where 62 fatalities have been recorded for every 100,000 people.
According to the toxicology results, 70 per cent of toxic drug deaths in B.C. have been among those aged 30 to 59, while 77 per cent of this year’s overdoses have killed men.
Only one death was recorded among British Columbians aged 18 or younger, which B.C.’s representative for children and youth is linking to the illicit drug supply.
“Young people are advising us that they are accessing an illicit supply in order to cope with the trauma that they are dealing with in their lives,” Jennifer Charlesworth said in the BCCS statement Thursday.
THE ROOT OF THE CRISIS
Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says the province must not lose sight of how this crisis started.
“The root of this crisis was the arrival of illicit fentanyl in B.C. in 2013,” Lapointe said in a release Thursday, adding that the drug has continued to fuel the emergency ever since.
So far this year, illicit fentanyl has been detected in 79 per cent of unregulated drug deaths, while last year the drug was linked to 86 per cent of fatalities, data by BCCS shows.
“Members of our communities are dying because non-prescribed, non-pharmaceutical fentanyl is poisoning them on an unprecedented scale,” said Lapointe.
The government of B.C. has decriminalized the possession of small amounts of some illegal drugs for personal use—effective from January 31, 2023 through the same day in 2026—which Lapointe commends as a health-centred approach to what she calls a “complex health challenge.”
She’s also in support of safer supply services offered Canada-wide.
“Anonymous allegations and second-hand anecdotes suggesting that these new initiatives are somehow responsible for the crisis our province has been experiencing since early 2016 are not only harmful, they are simply wrong,” she added.
