File photo (Image credit: CFJC Today).

By Aaron Schulze

Toxic Drugs

Kamloops records five deaths due to illicit drugs, on pace for second deadliest year

Nov 30, 2023 | 12:16 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops lost five lives in October due to the toxic drug crisis.

New figures released Thursday (Nov. 30) by the BC Coroners Service show 67 deaths due to illicit drugs in Kamloops as of October 2023, up from 62 by the end of September. Kamloops is on pace to lose fewer lives due to toxic drugs than the 92 fatalities suffered during its deadliest year in 2022, but is on pace for its second deadliest year.

Overall, B.C. saw 189 deaths in October due to illicit drugs, pushing the year-to-date total to 2,039. Twenty-one of those deaths were recorded in Interior Health for a year-to-date total of 343.

By health service delivery area, the coroners service says the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap’s death rate of 57.2 per 100,000 residents is one of the highest in 2023.

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B.C.’s deadliest record is 2,383 illicit drug fatalities in one year in 2022.

The coroners service’s figures can be viewed here.