Merritt has highest illicit drug toxicity death rate in BC

BC Coroners Service reporting released on Tuesday, June 29, 2021, shows at least 160 lives were lost in the province as a result of suspected illicit drug toxicity in May.

Merritt continues to have the highest illicit drug toxicity death rate per 100,000 people at 133.4. The next closest community in Powell River at 112.6.  So far in 2021, six people have died in Merritt due to illicit drugs.

The Interior Health Authority has now recorded 130 illicit deaths in 2021, including 24 in May alone. Broken down further the Thompson Cariboo Health Service Delivery area, which includes Merritt, had recorded 58 deaths, 14 in May.

“More than five years into this public health emergency, we continue to lose our loved ones, friends and neighbours at an almost unimaginable rate,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner, BC Coroners Service. “There is no way to measure the catastrophic impact that the loss of these lives have had on every community in our province. Today, I grieve with all those who have lost someone close to them as a result of this crisis.”

An average of 5.2 lives were lost to illicit drugs every day in May. The 160 deaths are the second-most ever recorded in the month after May 2020 (177 deaths). The 851 lives lost between January and May are the most ever reported in the first five months of a calendar year, surpassing the 704 deaths reported in January-May 2017 by almost 21%.

The overall rate of deaths due to toxic illicit drugs in British Columbia now stands at 39.3 per 100,000 residents. Every health authority in the province has recorded a death rate greater than 33.6 per 100,000 residents, the previous provincial high established in 2020.