CP NewsAlert: B.C. records highest number of annual drug deaths yet, coroner says

By The Canadian Press on January 24, 2024.

A Naloxone anti-overdose kit is held in downtown Vancouver, B.C., Friday, Feb. 10, 2017. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward

VICTORIA – The BC Coroners Service says there were 2,511 suspected illicit drug deaths last year, the highest annual toll ever recorded.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says close to 14,000 people have died since the province declared a public health emergency in April 2016.

Lapointe says the surging death toll is a direct result of the powerful opioid fentanyl, which continues to be the main driver in toxic deaths.