File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Toxic Drug Crisis

New record for B.C. illicit drug deaths in 2023; Kamloops total down 15 per cent

Jan 24, 2024 | 2:10 PM

VICTORIA — B.C. has hit another grim milestone in its battle against the toxic drug crisis.

The B.C. Coroners Service’s 2023 year-end report into illicit drug deaths shows 2,511 people died due to drug toxicity in 2023, a new annual record for B.C. That’s up five per cent from the 2,383 who died provincewide in 2022.

The rate of death also reached an all-time high last year, at 45.7 fatalities per 100,000 people.

In Kamloops, the number of lives lost to toxic drugs decreased by 15 per cent in 2023.

The Coroners Service reports 80 deaths in Kamloops due to toxic drugs, the eighth-highest total of any community in B.C. The 2023 total is down from 92 in 2022, the all-time high in Kamloops and tied for fifth-most in the province.

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Similarly in the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap area, total deaths were down from 155 in 2022 to 141 in 2023.

Province-wide, about 76 per cent of all illicit drug deaths occurred in homes, while 19 per cent took place outside.

Fentanyl was considered a relevant factor in 85 per cent of illicit drug deaths in 2023.

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