More people died of drug overdoses than car crashes, suicides, and homicides combined in B.C. last year.
The BC Coroners Service says overdose deaths increased to 1489 in 2018, just surpassing the number of fatalities the year before.
Northern Health recorded 80 overdose deaths in 2018, up from 65 the year before.
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says fentanyl was implicated in 86 percent of the overdose deaths province-wide.
B.C. Medical Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry says while frontline work has resulted in a levelling off of fatal overdoses, more has to be done to combat the problem.
Henry says she’d like to see “de facto decriminalization” by providing access to a regulated supply of opioids for people at risk of overdose and steering users toward supports rather than the criminal justice system.
