Toxic unregulated drugs in B.C. kill more than 1,000 in first 5 months of 2023

The BC Coroners Service says more than 1,000 people have been killed from the toxic unregulated drug supply in the province during the first five months of this year.

In a statement Monday, the service says that while the risk posed by the unregulated supply of drugs “remains extremely high,” the number of deaths decreased slightly from near-record levels in April.

The service says 176 people were killed in May by toxic drugs.

“BC Coroners Service findings confirm that this public-health emergency continues to be driven by illicit fentanyl,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. “Expedited testing in 2023 is positive for fentanyl in almost nine out of every 10 results, nearly double the positivity rate of methamphetamine and cocaine, the next most commonly identified substances.

“As long as people are reliant on the profit-driven unregulated market to access the substances they need, their lives are at risk.”

The province says an update in reporting for the first five months of the year shows that 1,018 people were killed — a 2.9 per cent increase in the number of deaths reported to the coroners service compared to the same time frame in 2022.

The 176 people killed in May represents an almost 20 per cent decrease from April, when 218 people died, and equates to about 5.7 people dying each day in the province.

“Unregulated drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in British Columbia for people aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined. The lives of at least 12,264 British Columbians have been lost to unregulated drugs in the seven years since the public health emergency was first declared in April 2016,” the BC Coroners Service said Monday.

The province is also sharing the number of youth under 19 who have died from toxic drugs — between January 2019 and December 2022, 142 youths died. More than half of these deaths occurred with youths using alone.

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The province says more than 70 per cent of the deaths happened within private residences. The province also says hydromorphone was detected in 12 deaths; however, in all but one, another substance was found that contributed to the death.

“We know that young people are not immune from the extreme dangers of the unregulated drug supply,” Lapointe said.

“In responding to this health crisis, it is critically important that we heed the recommendations of experts and ensure a robust system of care that includes increased access to timely, evidence-based treatment and recovery services, and to a safer substance supply as an alternative to the toxic black market. A public-health crisis of this magnitude demands a comprehensive response that meets people where they are and provides the services they need to survive.”