At least 1,095 residents are believed to have died of illicit drug toxicity from January to June this year, at an average of six deaths per day, according to data from the B.C. Coroners Service.
British Columbia has lost more than 10,000 lives to illicit drugs since the province declared a public health emergency in April 2016, chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says.
New data from the B.C. Coroners Service revealed at least 1,095 residents are believed to have died from January to June this year, at an average of six deaths per day. Eighty of those deaths have been in Greater Victoria, while 33 have been in Nanaimo. “We don’t put too much weight on one individual month because we know throughout this crisis, we have seen decreases and then we have seen rapid increases. What that reflects is the volatility of the market,” she said.
In June, Ottawa approved a three-year exception to federal drug laws, and beginning next year, B.C. will become the first province where people won’t be arrested or charged for possessing up to 2.5 grams of certain illicit drugs. She referred to a report by a B.C. Coroners Service death review panel that examined more than 6,000 deaths from illicit drug overdose from August 2017 through July 2021. The report, released in March, found the primary cause of illicit drug overdoses in the province is a combination of an increasingly toxic supply and a current policy framework that it says forces users to unregulated sources.
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