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By Liam Verster

Monthly update

Fewer drug deaths in Vernon, numbers increasing in Kelowna and across B.C.

May 7, 2024 | 11:02 AM

March saw the number of local lives lost to illicit toxic substances decline, but that wasn’t the case for all of the Okanagan or the province.

The B.C. Coroner’s Service reported a total of three suspected toxic drug deaths in Vernon in March, which was down from the five the month prior. March’s figures brought Vernon’s year to date death toll up to nine.

The Coroner’s Service reported another 10 deaths in Kelowna, double the five from the month before, which brought the year-to-date death toll up to 23.

There were also eight deaths reported in Kamloops, down from the nine in February, bringing that community’s death toll up to 28.

The local fatalities were part of 17 recorded in the Okanagan and 34 in the Interior, both of which were up by one death from the previous month. As of the end of March, a total of 46 suspected overdose deaths had been recorded in the Okanagan and there had been 93 in the Interior.

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Though Vernon and Kamloops saw suspected toxic drug deaths decline on a monthly basis, the provincial figure did not follow a similar trend.

The Coroner’s Service reported 192 suspected toxic drug deaths in March, marking an increase from the 177 in February.

“The data reflects an 11 per cent decrease in the number of lives lost when compared with March 2023 (215), when 6.9 people died each day from toxic drugs. In March 2024, 6.2 deaths per day were tied to the unregulated drug supply,” the B.C. Coroners Service stated in a release.

“So far this year, about seven in every 10 of those who have died from toxic drugs were between the ages of 30 and 59. While nearly three-quarters of those killed have been males, it is worth noting that the rate of death among females is climbing year over year: 23 deaths per 100,000 in 2024, compared with 20.6 deaths per 100,000 females for all of 2023.”

The report stated a total of 572 lives had been lost across B.C. due to illicit substance poisonings in the first three months of 2024.

The agency noted unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death for British Columbians aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural diseases combined.

Data from the report showed 84 per cent of the overdose deaths in B.C. this year have occurred inside, with 47 per cent in private homes and 37 per cent in other indoor locations including supportive housing, shelters, hotels and single-room occupancy buildings.

Fentanyl was detected in 85 per cent of toxic drug deaths that have undergone toxicology testing. Hydromorphone, or safer supply, had been detected in three per cent of drug deaths in 2023 and 2024.

The Coroner’s Service added only one death has ever been recorded in an overdose prevention site, which occurred in 2022.