'A crisis of incomprehensible scale': B.C. chief coroner on 596 illicit drug deaths in first 3 months of 2023

The death toll of British Columbia’s illicit drug overdose crisis climbed to 596 in the first three months of 2023, in what the province's chief coroner is calling "a crisis of incomprehensible scale."

The BC Coroners Service released its 2023 summary of unregulated drug deaths in the province on Tuesday, which shows there were 197 in March, 177 in February and 222 in January.

The lives lost between January and March of 2023 represent second-highest total ever recorded in the first three months of a year since B.C. declared the toxic drug overdose crisis a public health emergency in 2016.

In 2022, the deadliest year on record, 599 illicit drug deaths were recorded during the same period.

The release of the summary comes just four days after B.C. marked the seventh year of its public health emergency due to overdose deaths, which was declared on April 14, 2016.

In the years since, B.C. has reported at least 11,807 illicit drug-toxicity deaths.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe acknowledged the longest public-health emergency in the province’s history in a statement Tuesday.

“This is a crisis of incomprehensible scale, and I extend my deepest condolences to everyone who has experienced the loss of someone they loved,” Lapointe said.

Last month alone, roughly 6.4 people died of suspected overdose in this province daily.

Fentanyl and its analogues have been linked to 89.8 per cent of those deaths, according to BCCS.

The numbers in March 2023 represent an annual increase of nine per cent compared to the deaths recorded in the same period last year.

So far this year, BCCS found nearly half of unregulated drug deaths—47 percent—occurred in private residences.

Only one death has been recorded at an overdose prevention site, according to the summary.

The health authorities with the highest rates of overdose so far this year have been Vancouver, Northwest, North Vancouver Island, Northern Interior and Central Vancouver Island.

Jennifer Whiteside, B.C.’s mental health and addictions minister, says she is committed to “do everything possible to turn the tide and end this public health emergency.”

“In February and March, we lost 374 people to the toxic illicit drug supply. These were friends, family, neighbours and co-workers and I mourn with British Columbians who are grieving their irreplaceable loss,” Whiteside said in a statement Monday.

“Our government won't stop working until we have an integrated system of mental-health and addictions services in place that is available for people wherever and whenever they need it,” she added.

According to the BC Coroners Service, there is no evidence that prescribed safe supply is contributing to unregulated drug deaths.

"It is clear that an urgent response to this crisis is required and overdue," said Lapointe, who’s calling for the urgent implementation of a safe, regulated drug supply.

“All areas of our province are immensely affected by this crisis, and collaboration, innovation and the rejection of old stereotypes and failed solutions are necessary to prevent future deaths."