1,422 overdose deaths in BC last year
More information is coming out regarding overdose deaths in BC from the last few years.
The BC Coroners Service prepared a 34-page report on 872 overdose deaths, which revealed the following:
- Four in every five overdose victims were male (81%, or 707 of the 872 deaths).
- About two-thirds of victims lived in private residences.
- Fentanyl was detected in just over three in every four deaths.
- More than half of the victims had a reported a clinical mental health diagnosis or showed evidence of a mental health disorder.
- About four in every five victims had contact with health services in the year preceding their death.
- More than two-thirds used drugs alone.
- 45% of victims had reported pain-related issues.
- 14% of victims lived in social or single room occupancy housing and 9% were homeless.
- About one in every four deaths involved people, primarily males, working in trades or transport.
- 65% of victims were never married and 18% were previously separated or divorced.
- 44% of victims were employed and 51% unemployed.
Last year, there were a total of 1,422 overdose deaths in BC, a 43 percent increase from the 993 overdose deaths reported last year in the province.
75 of those deaths in 2017 took place in Kelowna, and 67 of them involved fentanyl.
