More than 1,000 people have died in British Columbia from street drug overdoses, mostly caused by fentanyl, in the first five months of 2023, according to the BC Coroners Service.
Drug toxicity from illegal drugs, which the Coroner refers to as “unregulated drugs,” is now the leading cause of death in the province in people aged 10 to 59, according to a news release issued on June 19.
The newest statistics indicate more people are dying from overdoses or drug toxicity from street drugs than all the deaths combined from murders, suicides, accidents, and natural disease.
Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said that illicit fentanyl is the drug driving the public health emergency, and that her agency is finding fentanyl in almost nine out of every 10 results, nearly double the positivity rate of methamphetamine and cocaine, the next most commonly identified drugs….