BC’s Chief Coroner says October was the 5th month this year where more than 160 people died of an illicit drug overdose.
The total number of deaths from highly toxic illicit drugs in October reached 162.
That works out to an average of five people per day dying from overdoses in British Columbia.
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says it’s “more than double the number of people” who died from toxic drugs in the same period last year.
Lapointe says challenges accessing “key harm-reduction services,” as well as the “extreme concentration of illicit fentanyl” are causing a significant loss of life in BC.
There have now been eight straight months in which more than 100 people have died after overdosing on illicit drugs.
