File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By The Canadian Press / James Peters

Overdose Deaths

B.C., Kamloops set records for most overdose deaths in a year

Feb 11, 2021 | 11:04 AM

VICTORIA — British Columbia’s chief coroner says the province recorded the most deaths ever in a single year due to an unnatural cause, with 1,716 lives lost to illicit drug overdoses in 2020.

Lisa Lapointe says that’s an “alarming” death rate of 33.4 per 100,000 people and it far surpassed fatalities due to suicides, homicides, motor vehicle crashes and prescription drug deaths combined.

Kamloops also set a record for overdose deaths in a year with 60. The previous high was 46, set in 2018. The 2020 total ranks Kamloops sixth in the province, behind Vancouver (408), Surrey (214), Victoria (122), Abbotsford (65) and Kelowna (61).

Per capita, the Thompson Cariboo was the Health Service Delivery Area (HDSA) with the fourth-highest overdose death rate in B.C. last year, behind Vancouver, Northern Interior and Northeast. The Thompson Cariboo saw 40.2 overdose deaths per 100,000 population.

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Lapointe says harm reduction measures, such as overdose prevention sites, were starting to have an effect in 2019, but the COVID-19 pandemic drove people back inside their homes where they use drugs alone.

She says most people dying are males in private homes, and it’s not just limited to any one area but is happening in communities across the province.

B.C. declared a public health emergency in 2016 after a significant increase in overdose deaths caused by powerful opioids.

Lapointe says it’s time to decriminalize drugs so that public health officials can reduce the harm associated with substance use.