For the 17th month in a row, February saw more than 150 people die from illicit drug overdoses in BC.
According to preliminary numbers from the BC Coroners Service, 174 illicit overdose deaths were recorded in February.
While that is down slightly from January’s 208, it puts BC at 9,410 deaths since January of 2016.
Fentanyl continues to be the predominant substance found in post-mortem testing, though alarmingly, concentrations of fentanyl discovered in samples is on the rise.
Northern Health registered the highest rate of deaths of any Health Authority, at 63 deaths per 100,000 people.
In terms of Service Delivery Areas, both the Northwest and Northern Interior areas had among the top 5 highest rates of death.
The report comes as BC approaches the 6 year anniversary of the declaration of a toxic drug public health emergency made in April of 2016.
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