Toxic drug deaths in October lowest in 4 years, B.C. coroners service says

Items are seen on the ground as paramedics from B.C. Ambulance respond to a drug overdose in downtown Vancouver, Wednesday, June 23, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

Toxic drug deaths in October reached a low not seen in years, according to new preliminary data from the B.C. Coroners Service.

It says 155 British Columbians lost their lives to unregulated drugs in October 2024, the lowest monthly death toll since September 2020. The date equates to about five fatalities per day—while the number has hovered around six or seven for all other months this year.

In the first 10 months of 2024, a total of 1,925 people in B.C. have died of drug overdoses. That marks a “significant decline”—of nine per cent—in deaths compared to 2023, the coroners service says, when 2,107 had died by October.

“The BC Coroners Service does not have the investigative data to suggest why this decrease has occurred, though it is consistent with reporting from other jurisdictions and BCCS is working with partners to understand this further,” the agency wrote in a news release accompanying the data Monday.

Nevertheless, the BCCS says unregulated drug toxicity remains the leading cause of “unnatural death” for British Columbians between the ages of 10 and 59.

In October, half of reported drug deaths were people between age 30 and 49 and nobody younger than 19 died, according to the data.

Twenty-two per cent of those who died were women and 78 per cent were men, and the coroners service notes that the rate of females dying of overdoses is more than double what it was five years ago.

The top drug types detected in people who underwent expedited toxicological testing were fentanyl and stimulants, at 87.1 per cent and 80.7 per cent respectively.

By city, the highest number of drug fatalities, 39, happened in Vancouver, followed by Surrey and Greater Victoria.

The coroners service notes that the data released Monday is preliminary and could change when more toxicology results come in.