A combined 370 lives across the province have been lost due to a toxic drug overdose in the months of August and September according to the BC Coroners Service.
On average, that is about six deaths per day.
In that two-month span, Northern Health recorded 25 fatalities, two of which were in the northwest.
This year, 35 toxic drug deaths have been recorded in the northwest of the 160 recorded across Northern Health.
Numbers are below last year’s 49 recorded deaths in the northwest.
Smithers has recorded five deaths this year and none have been recorded Burns Lake.
Last year, each community recorded six toxic drug deaths.
1749 people have lost their lives to toxic drugs across the province in 2024, a nine per cent decline compared to last year’s 2573 deaths.
This year, 70 per cent of those who died were between the ages of 30 and 59, with three-quarters of them being male.
Northern Health continues to have the highest deaths per 100,000 at 70.3 – the next highest being Island Health at 52.6.
Unregulated toxic drugs are the leading cause of deaths for people in British Columbia between the ages of 10 and 59 – more than homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural disease combined.
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