Kamloops loses six more lives due to illicit drugs; remains on pace for deadliest year

Jun 6, 2024 | 11:19 AM

KAMLOOPS — Six more lives in Kamloops were lost in April due to the toxic drug crisis.

New figures released Thursday (June 6) by the BC Coroners Service show 34 deaths due to toxic drugs in Kamloops as of April 2024, up from 28 the month prior.

Kamloops is on pace to lose 102 lives due to drug toxicity in 2024. It would surpass the community’s deadliest record of 92 fatalities in 2022.

Overall, B.C. saw 182 drug deaths in April, pushing the year-to-date total to 763. Twenty-nine of those deaths were recorded in Interior Health for a year-to-date total of 122.

By health service delivery area, the coroners service says the Thompson Cariboo Shuswap has lost 49 lives in 2024 for a death rate of 56.2 per 100,000 residents.

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“While this represents a 24 per cent decrease from the number of deaths in April 2023 (239), the risk posed by unregulated drug supply remains very high,” the coroners state. “April 2024 marks eight years since the public-health emergency was first declared. At least 14,582 people in the province have lost their lives to toxic drugs in that time… Fentanyl continues to be the primary driver of unregulated toxic-drug deaths in 2024, detected in 82 per cent of toxicological test results.”

B.C.’s deadliest record is 2,546 drug fatalities in one year in 2023.

The coroners service’s figures can be viewed here.

by Aaron Schulze

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Kamloops loses six more lives due to illicit drugs; remains on pace for deadliest year

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