Overdose deaths decreasing but still high

Health officials say harm reduction measures aimed at slowing the crisis of illicit drug deaths in B.C. appear to be working.

The B.C. Coroners Service has released data showing 981 people died of suspected overdoses last year — a 36 per cent drop when compared with 2018 figures.

Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says an average of 2.7 deaths occurred every day in B.C. last year, with victims ranging in age from 13 to 76 — although the majority of deaths were among men between the ages of 30 and 50.

Kelowna had 27 overdose deaths in 2019, down from the 50 the year before.

More than five-thousand people have died since 2016 when B.C. declared a health emergency as the ultra-powerful opioid fentanyl increasingly tainted street drugs — and Lapointe says the coroners service continues to call for improved access to a regulated, safer drug supply.

(With files from the Canadian Press)