Nine illicit drug deaths reported in Merritt in eight months

Reporting released by the BC Coroners Service shows that 333 lives were lost to suspected illicit drug toxicity in August and September 2021, raising the total number of British Columbians lost this year to 1,534.

“Once again, we are reporting record numbers of deaths in our province due to the toxic illicit drug supply,” said Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner. “The tremendous loss being felt by families and communities across B.C. as they mourn loved ones lost far too soon, is heartbreaking.”

The 1,534 cumulative deaths in 2021 are the most in the first nine months of a calendar year and represent a 24% increase over the 1,240 deaths recorded between January and September 2020. The provincewide death rate stands at 39.4 per 100,000 residents, nearly double the rate in 2016 when the public health emergency into substance-related harms was first declared.

Updated figures show Merritt no longer has the highest death rate in BC, now ranked in third behind Upper Skenna and Lillooet. Smaller population numbers do skew the figures.

From January to August 2021, the BC Coroner is reporting nine illicit drug deaths in the Merritt Local Health Area.

For the Months of August and September, the Interior Health Authority reported 34 and 30 cases respectively. Broken down further, the Thompson region had 14 and 12.

Consistent with previous reporting, toxicology results indicate that the illicit drug supply in B.C. is both volatile and increasingly toxic. Fentanyl and its analogues have now been detected in 84% of all illicit toxicity deaths in 2021, with carfentanil, a particularly potent analogue, being detected in 137 deaths, more than double the 65 deaths recorded in all of 2020.