March overdose deaths keep B.C. on track for record-breaking year

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Nearly 500 people in British Columbia lost their lives to toxic illicit drugs in first three months of 2021, keeping the province on track to break another annual record for deaths.

The BC Coroners Service recorded 158 suspected overdose deaths in March, at 41 per cent jump from March last year and tied with the previous high for that month in 2018. The numbers push B.C.’s total number of deaths so far this year to 498, or around five people per day, compared to the 401 the province had by this time last year.

Advocates on the Downtown Eastside feel this will continue unless there’s a fundamental change to our approach to drug use and care.

“It’s the same as last month, which is to say it’s even more of a failure. What a failure. They keep saying we’ll ask the feds. Well no. They can do these things themselves,” City of Vancouver drug policy advisor Karen Ward said.

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The province, for its part, has released a statement pointing out the support beds it has added, and the programs it has in place to provide people with alternatives to street drugs.

“We have continued to accelerate our overdose response over the past four years. In addition to expanding proven, life-saving measures such as overdose prevention services, outreach teams, nurses and making naloxone widely available, we are building up treatment and recovery services, adding new treatment beds around the province and trailblazing first-in-Canada solutions like prescribed safe supply and nurse prescribing,” Sheila Malcolmson, Minister of Mental Health and Addictions said in a release.

But Ward says the province’s actions aren’t enough.

“I feel really upset because it just feels like they’re trying to make it seem inevitable natural and normal, even that all these people die,” Ward said. “498 for three months males over 2,000 this year, at least, the way things are going.”

Carfentanil was detected in 18 deaths of March’s deaths, bringing the total number of carfentanil-related deaths in 2021 to 48. Benzodiazepines was also up. It was detected in 51 per cent of samples in February, compared to just 15 per cent last July.

“The illicit drug supply in British Columbia is volatile and unpredictable, and anyone using a substance from this unregulated market is vulnerable to serious injury or death,” said Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe in a statement from the province.

The majority of the deaths continue to be men and in people aged 30 to 59. Vancouver Coastal Health and Northern Health saw the highest per capita number of deaths.