Nearly 1,500 deaths from toxic drug supply in first 8 months of 2022

The B.C. government confirmed Wednesday that in the first eight months of 2022, nearly 1,500 people have died from the toxic drug supply.

In a release, the government says preliminary reporting by the BC Coroners Service shows 169 people died in August alone, bringing the total number for 2022 to 1,468 deaths.

“The illicit drug market continues to pose immense risks to people across our province,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. “People in communities across B.C. are continuing to lose friends, family members and colleagues to the unprecedented toxicity of the unregulated drug supply. I extend my sincere condolences to all of those grieving the loss of a loved one.”

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At least 150 deaths from toxic drugs have been recorded in the province every month this year, with the exception of June 2022, the government says. In the almost two year period from October 2020 to the end of August 2022, an average of 184 people have died each month.

“Illicit drug toxicity is the leading cause of unnatural death in British Columbia and is second only to cancers in terms of years of life lost,” the province said. “At least 10,326 British Columbians have been lost to the illicit drug supply since the public-health emergency for substance-related harms was first declared in April 2016.”

In 2022, 71 per cent of people dying from toxic drugs were between 30 and 59 years old, with 78 per cent of those being men.

By health authority, the highest number of toxic drug deaths in 2022 have happened in Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health, the province says.

No deaths have been reported at supervised consumption or drug overdose prevention sites.

The province says post-mortem toxicology results show that there is “no indication that prescribed safe supply is contributing to illicit drug deaths regionally or provincially.”