It may be one less death per capita compared to March, but Northern Health still has the highest rate of illicit drug deaths in all of B.C.
According to the B.C. Coroners Service, the region maintains an average of 28 deaths per 100,000 individuals which is higher than the provincial average of 22 deaths per capita.
Prince George numbers contributed two more deaths to that statistic from the month of April, bringing the city’s 2020 year-to-date total to nine.
“We remain in a public health emergency, with more than three British Columbians dying each day from illicit drug toxicity deaths,” said B.C.’s Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe in a news release, adding death rates in the province remain the highest in Canada.
“Recent efforts to improve access to safe supply in B.C. are encouraging, and the BC Coroners Service supports continued enhancement of this critical life-saving measure. We continue to recommend a regulated, evidence-based, supportive treatment and recovery system as an important pillar in preventing future deaths.
“The BC Coroners Service continues to work with our partners to collaboratively share information to better understand the situation.”
Northern Health has 28 people who’ve died from illicit drugs this year, including three more from the region in April.
That’s nearing 50 per cent of 2019’s total of 66 deaths in the authority.
The northern interior, which includes cities like Prince George, has half of that total at 14.
In B.C. as a whole, there were 117 deaths by illicit drug overdoses last month, marking the first time the province recorded more than 100 in back-to-back months after March saw 112 deaths.
So far, 382 people have succumbed to drug overdoses province-wide, which is already 39 per cent of last year’s total (978).
Since January 2018, Prince George has lost 87 people to illicit drug overdoses.
