Illicit drug deaths continue to surge in B.C. as the B.C. Coroners Service identified 155 suspected illicit drug toxicity deaths in February. This marks the 11th consecutive month in which the province has recorded more than 100 lives lost.
The B.C. Government says in a press release that the total number of deaths is the largest ever recorded in the month of February. It is also an increase of 107 per cent over the total number of deaths recorded in February of last year. The average of 5.5 lives lost each day makes February the second consecutive month in which the average number of daily deaths was above 5.
In 2021, 15 per cent of the lives lost were people 60 years of age and older and 40 per cent were over the age of 50.
Increased toxicity and variability in the drug supply continues to significantly contribute to the overall number of suspected deaths. Carfentanil which is a more lethal analogue of fentanyl, was detected in 18 of the 155 deaths.
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