File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Overdose Deaths

Provincial overdose death rate declines, but Kamloops still sits fourth in B.C.

Oct 20, 2020 | 10:15 AM

VICTORIA — The rate of drug overdose deaths decreased last month, but is still disturbingly high.

That conclusion stems from new overdose death statistics released Tuesday (Oct. 20) by the B.C. Coroners Service.

They show 127 overdose deaths in September, down from 150 in August.

The September total represents the third consecutive month of decline, but is still more than twice the number of deaths recorded in September, 2019.

In Kamloops, there were seven overdose deaths recorded in September, bringing the 2020 total to 43. That’s just three fewer than the Kamloops record of 46 overdose deaths in 2018 and has Kamloops ranked fourth-highest in B.C., behind Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria.

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The Coroners Service notes the Thompson Cariboo as one of the Health Service Delivery Areas with the highest overdose death rates in B.C., and the community of Lillooet as one of the Local Health Areas with the highest rates.

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