File Photo (Image Credit: CFJC Today)

By James Peters

Overdose Deaths

With 153 overdose deaths in November, B.C. on the verge of a record year

Dec 21, 2020 | 11:05 AM

VICTORIA — B.C. recorded 153 more deaths by illicit drug overdose in November, making it a certainty 2020 will be the province’s deadliest year from drug overdoses on record.

There have been 1,548 illicit drug overdoses to the end of November, just one short of the annual record set in 2018.

The B.C. Coroners Service says the November total was down slightly from October, but 89 per cent higher than the same month in 2019.

In Kamloops, five more overdose deaths were recorded in November, increasing the city’s record-breaking total to 55 in 2020. Kamloops sits fifth among B.C. cities in overdose deaths this year, behind Vancouver, Surrey, Victoria and Abbotsford.

The B.C. Coroners Service notes the Thompson Cariboo as one of the Health Service Delivery Areas experiencing the highest overdose death rates in the province, and singles out Lillooet as one of the communities with the highest per-capita rates.

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