Illicit drug death toll surpasses 2,000 in B.C. for a 2nd consecutive year
British Columbia reported 2,272 illicit drugs deaths in 2022, new data released by the BC Coroners Service shows.
The fatalities from the last two months of the year—the second consecutive one in which the province surpassed 2,000 lives lost—shows toxic drugs killed 182 people in November and another 210 in December.
While announcing the service’s latest findings Tuesday, Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe made a direct apology to people who have lost loved ones due to illicit drugs.
“I am so sorry – their lives mattered, and their deaths are our collective loss,” said Lapointe.
Approximately 6.4 deaths occurred daily last year on average, with people aged 30-59 representing 70 per cent of fatalities. That’s approximately the same daily death toll B.C. saw in 2021.
“B.C. has experienced an average of six deaths of every day of every week for two years due to toxic drugs and these deaths were preventable,” Lapointe said. “Drug toxicity remains the leading cause of unnatural deaths in B.C., significantly surpassing the number of fatalities linked to self-harm, motor vehicle accidents and homicide combined.”
EVERY CORNER OF B.C. AFFECTED
While all parts of the province are being impacted by the toxic drug crisis, three of the five health authorities experienced record high rates of death, according to Lapointe.
For every 100,000 people, Interior Health saw 46 deaths, Vancouver Coastal Health reported 50.5 and North Health saw 59.5.
The majority of deaths, 55 per cent, have happened in private residences. Twenty-nine per cent of people died in other residences including social and supportive housing, and 15 per cent happened outside in vehicles, streets and parks.
One person died at an overdose prevention site.
DRUG DEATHS BY DEMOGRPHIC
Men accounted for the vast majority of deaths at nearly 80 per cent, while the average age of someone dying of drug toxicity was 44 years old.
In the past two years, Lapointe says there have been 65 deaths of children and youth, a demographic that represents 1.5 per cent of drug toxicity fatalities.
“The actual number of those under age 19 dying has grown as the total number of deaths continues to increase rapidly,” said Lapointe.
DEADLIEST DRUGS
Preliminary data shows that fentanyl or its analogues—acetylfentanyl, carfentanyl, norfentayl—were detected in 82 per cent of toxic drug deaths in 2022, marking a four per cent drop from the year prior. Carfentanil accounted for 126 deaths last year, which is 66 fewer than in 2021.
According to BC Coroner Service, the number of people who died with “extreme fentanyl concentrations” was greatest between April and November of last year.
After fentanyl, cocaine has been the second most prevalent drug detected in fatal overdoses. Between July 2020 and December 2022, cocaine was linked to 46 per cent of deaths, followed by methamphetamine at 41 per cent.
“There’s no indication that prescribed safe supply is contributing to illicit drug deaths,” Lapointe said.
Since the province declared a public health emergency over illicit drug deaths in 2016, British Columbia has recorded more than 11,000 fatalities.
“We all look forward to the day this public health emergency is over and these updates are no longer necessary,” said Lapointe.
The latest data on the crisis was released on the first day of B.C.’s three-year pilot project decriminalizing small amounts of illegal drugs for personal use.
Jennifer Whiteside, the province’s mental health and addictions minister, says that while decriminalization is not enough to reduce illicit drug deaths, it can help destigmatize substance use and encourage people to seek services they may need.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Regan Hasegawa
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.