File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Overdose Deaths

B.C., Kamloops set new overdose death records in 2021

Feb 9, 2022 | 9:06 AM

KAMLOOPS — A new report from the B.C. Coroners Service shows the province’s illicit drug overdose crisis reaching an unprecedented height.

B.C. set records in each of the last two months of 2021 for the most illicit drug deaths ever recorded. The service says there were 210 such deaths in November and 215 in December, the first two times B.C.’s monthly overdose deaths total has eclipsed 200.

The province ended the year with 2,224 overdose deaths in total, a 26 per cent increase over 2020.

Image Credit: BC Coroners Service

Kamloops set a record as well with 77 overdose deaths, ranking the city sixth in the province behind Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria, Abbotsford and Burnaby. Kamloops ranks ahead of Kelowna, Langley, Prince George, Chilliwack and Nanaimo, among other cities. Kamloops had 60 drug overdose deaths in 2020.

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The Coroners Service notes 71 per cent of those who died of suspected overdoses in 2021 were between the ages of 30 and 59, and 78 per cent were male.

The province says the Thompson Cariboo was a Health Service Delivery Area with one of the highest rates of overdose deaths in B.C. It notes Local Health Areas with the highest overdose death rates include Merritt, Enderby, Lillooet and the North Thompson.

“It is with a heavy heart that our province continued to experience an unprecedented number of lives lost to the toxic drug supply in 2021,” said Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry and Minister of Mental Health and Addictions Sheila Malcolmson in a joint statement. “It is beyond devastating that we lost 2,224 people; our brothers, sisters, children, parents, neighbours and friends to toxic drugs. No words can soften these losses.”

“The number of people who died from the toxic drug supply last year is unacceptable and we must do more to prevent this tragic loss of life,” the statement goes on to say. “We must reduce the fear and shame that leads so many to hide their drug use, avoid services and use deadly drugs alone. Addiction is not a choice, it’s a health condition.”

READ THE FULL REPORT: