(Image credit: BC Coroners Service).

By Aaron Schulze

Opioid Crisis

Kamloops loses 12 lives in August due to illicit drugs

Sep 28, 2022 | 10:31 AM

KAMLOOPS — August was Kamloops’ deadliest month of 2022 when it comes to the opioid crisis.

According to the latest preliminary data by the BC Coroners Service, Kamloops suffered 12 deaths due to illicit drugs for a year-to-date total of 62. It’s the fifth highest among B.C. municipalities – behind Vancouver, Surrey, Greater Victoria and Abbotsford.

Kamloops set a yearly record with 77 overdose deaths in 2021. At the eight-month mark of 2022, Kamloops is already in its second deadliest year, on pace to surpass the deadliest year with 93.

In 2022, 101 lives in the Thompson Cariboo health service delivery area have been lost due to toxic drugs; 18 of those took place in August. It is also the area’s second deadliest year. The Thompson Cariboo has a death rate of 62.1 per 100,000 people, up from 58.3 in July.

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Interior Health recorded 34 deaths in July for a year-to-date total of 250.

Provincially, 169 lives were lost due to the toxic drug supply in August for a year-to-date total of 1,468.

B.C. became the first province in Canada to remove criminal penalties for possession of certain hard drugs for personal use.