BC sees record number of overdoses in 2020

As the five-year anniversary of the province’s illicit drug toxicity public health emergency approaches, the BC Coroners Service reports 2020 was B.C.’s worst year yet in terms of number of lives lost due to the effects of toxic illicit drugs.

There were 1,716 deaths due to illicit drugs in 2020 in B.C., representing a 74% increase over the number of deaths recorded in 2019 (984). The number of illicit drug toxicity deaths in 2020 equates to about 4.7 deaths per day, which is two deaths per day higher than in 2019 (2.7).

In the Thompson Cariboo Health Services Delivery Area, which includes the Merritt area, there was 101 illicit drug toxicity deaths. For comparison, there was 40 in all of 2019.

The toxic illicit drug supply in British Columbia has claimed more lives than motor-vehicle crashes, homicides, suicides and prescription-drug related deaths combined.

“The impacts of COVID-19 highlighted the immensely precarious situation of those experiencing problematic substance use in our province” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. “Decades of criminalization, an increasingly toxic illicit drug market and the lack of timely access to evidence-based treatment and recovery services have resulted in the loss of thousands of lives in B.C. It’s clear that urgent change is needed to prevent future deaths and the resulting grief and loss so many families and communities have experienced across our province.”