By James Peters

Kamloops overdose deaths already three times 2015 total

Jul 13, 2016 | 2:02 PM

KAMLOOPS — The BC Coroners Service says Kamloops has seen the fourth-most illicit drug overdose deaths in the province so far this year – trailing only Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria.

22 people have died in Kamloops after overdosing on opiates in the first half of 2016, compared to only seven all of last year.

Of those 22 deaths, eight involved the powerful opiate fentanyl.

The province declared a public health emergency in April in an effort to make information on overdoses more readily available to health professionals and emergency responders.

Boogie The Bridge

Boogie The Bridge Event Information

Apr 19, 2024

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: Police confirm diversion of government-supplied drugs

14h ago

ARMCHAIR MAYOR

ROTHENBURGER: A fond farewell to the airwaves from the Armchair Mayor

19h ago

Health Minister Terry Lake says the state of emergency is having an impact.

“We are making an impact in terms of getting to people, but we’re still not seeing the number of deaths come down the way we would like to see,” said Lake. “But we’re still relatively early in the new campaign and the new options available for people.”

The province-wide total of 371 illicit drug deaths for January to June is a 74 per cent increase over the same period in 2015.

Lake says there is a glimmer of hope in that the totals for May and June were 43 and 56 respectively, the two lowest totals of the year so far.

“[June] isn’t our highest month of the year, so that’s room for some cautious optimism. But it’s still an ongoing problem that we have 56 people in the province of British Columbia dying from illicit drug overdoses in one month. That still keeps us on track for about 700 deaths for the entire year.”

Lake says it’s not likely the public health emergency will be lifted anytime soon.

“I think we would have to see those numbers come down significantly, but the whole objective of declaring a public state of emergency is to ensure we are able to get the data we need to alert people to drug overdoses. As long as there is a need to do that, we will continue in the way we are.”

WATCH: Family speaks out about son’s death

A by the numbers look at British Columbia’s illicit overdose deaths in the first six months of 2016:

•  301 of the 371 deaths were males.
•  The age group with the highest toll is aged 30 to 39 at 116 deaths.
•  The Fraser Valley had the highest death count at 114, while Metro Vancouver’s toll was 92, Vancouver Island counted 76, the Interior 64 and northern B.C. had 25 deaths.
•  Fentanyl was blamed or detected in 60 per cent of the deaths, compared with 31 per cent in 2015
•  In 2012, the proportion of overdose deaths where fentanyl was detected was five per cent.
•  From January to June of this year, there was an average of 61.8 apparent illicit drug overdose deaths each month.

Stats from The Canadian Press