We hear about it all the time - the opioid crisis in BC.
But how bad is it?
Dr. Karin Goodison with Interior Health talks about local numbers, "We continue to have high numbers of people dying from overdoses related to illicit drugs and related to fentanyl and other contaminants in the current drug supply. So, we do continue to see high rates with almost one person per day dying in the Interior."
In December alone, paramedics in the Interior responded to 225 overdose events and 213 the month before.
"If we look back to 2016 when the emergency was first declared, the public health emergency around the crisis, we saw an increasing number of overdoses continue for the next year," Goodison said. "We saw that stabilize over 2017-18, and then actually the numbers of people dying from overdoses decreased in 2019."
But Goodison says the pandemic has caused those numbers to go back up.
Kelowna RCMP Corporal Jocelyn Noseworthy, "People in crisis aren't responding well to this increased pressure. It's hard on all of us, but those who are already struggling are finding the struggle worse."
An average of 3.83 people per 100,000 die by illicit drug overdose in Interior Health, sitting much higher than the provincial average of 2.98.
So, who is most affected?
Data from the BC Centre for Disease Control shows men are much more likely to overdose than women.
And despite 19 to 39 years olds making up the majority of overdoses, most overdose deaths occur in people aged 40 to 59.
According to BC Coroner's Service, Kelowna saw a total of 61 illicit drug deaths last year, more than two-thirds of which involved fentanyl.
Corporal Noseworthy says fentanyl is just one of several drugs commonly found in the city. "Probably the most common street level drugs that we're seeing right now are crystal methamphetamine, we see crack cocaine, and we're seeing combinations of fentanyl and heroin."
Illicit drug overdose deaths in Kelowna make up more than a fifth of all Interior Health illicit drug fatalities in 2020,
but only a fraction of the more than 1,700 that occurred across the province - a 74% increase over 2019.
Kelowna sits fifth in BC townships with the most illicit drug toxicity deaths for 2020.