Five fatal overdoses in Vernon, 138 in B.C. this June

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B.C. as a whole recorded 138 suspected unregulated drug deaths in June. That was up from 119 such deaths across the province in May, for a year-to-date total of 776 fatalities.

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The Coroner’s Service data showed that while numbers were rising, the local and provincial death tolls were not on track to surpass the record highs.

After calculating six months of data, the death tolls were well below half the record high 56 in Vernon, 104 in Kelowna and 2,591 in all of B.C. Those highs were all recorded in 2023.

Of the deaths seen in 2026, the Coroner’s Service said 68 per cent of people who had died were between the ages of 30 and 59, and 75 per cent were male.

Additionally, 81 per cent of deaths had occurred indoors, including 53 per cent in private residence and 28 per cent in other indoor residences, including social and supportive housing, shelters, and hotels.

Flurofentanyl had been found in 67 per cent of cases that underwent expedited toxicology testing, while 55 per cent involved cocaine, 53 per cent included fentanyl consumption, and 52 per cent of cases involved methamphatamine. Testing also found that desalkylgidazepam was involved in 23 per cent of deaths, bromazolam was found in 21 per cent of cases, and hydromorphone was found in only five per cent. 

Smoking has been the most common mode of consuming drugs in fatal overdose cases this year at 63 per cent, followed by nasal insufflation at 11 per cent, injection at eight and oral at three per cent.

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