B.C. Coroner Service Reports Five Toxic Drug Deaths in 2026 in Merritt

The B.C. Coroner Service has released its Unregulated Drug Death data for 2026, and the numbers don’t bode well for Merritt and area.

So far in 2026, five toxic drugs deaths have been reported in the area which equals the total of deaths for the entire year of 2024 and 2025.

Provincially, there were 138 deaths due to suspected unregulated drug toxicity in British Columbia in June, equating to approximately 4.6 deaths a day.

That brings the total of unregulated drug deaths in the province to 776 this year, which is down significantly from the 926 deaths during the firs six months of 2025.

In the first six months of 2026, deaths among people between 30 and 59 accounted for 68% of drug-toxicity deaths in the province, and 75% were male.

The report also suggests that by health authority in 2026, the highest number of unregulated drug deaths were in the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities (206 and 200 deaths, respectively), making up 52% of all such deaths.

In the Interior Health Authority which encompasses Merritt and surrounding area, there were 31 deaths which brings the total of deaths to 132 for the first six months of 2026.