Illicit Drug Deaths Tops 150 in BC for Ninth Consecutive Month
Aug 31, 2021 | 3:34 PM
Vern Strecheniuk
It was not the way Lisa Lapointe wanted to recognize International Overdose Awareness Day on Tuesday.
The provinces chief coroner says January to June saw the highest-ever death toll from illicit drug toxicity in the first six months of a year, with more than 1,000 deaths (1018).
Lapointe says drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in B-C for people aged 19 to 39 and overall it remains the leading cause of unnatural death.
Lapointe says drug toxicity is now the leading cause of death in B-C for people aged 19 to 39 and overall it remains the leading cause of unnatural death.
B.C. recorded 159 deaths due to drug toxicity in June, and marked the the ninth consecutive month of at least 150 deaths.
There were no new deaths due to overdoses in Merritt in June, however the city continues to have the highest illicit drug toxicity death rate per 100,000 people at 88.9.
The Interior Health Authority has now recorded 159 illicit deaths in 2021.
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