The number of deaths from illicit drugs has taken a more than four-fold drop in the city, according to numbers released Friday by the BC Coroners Service.
In all, there were 11 such deaths by midway point of this year, compared to 49 by the same point in 2018.
"It's good news and it's important that we take this good news to recognize a lot of the good work that's happening in our communities to try to prevent these overdoses," Northern Health medical health officer Rakel Kling said.
"But at the same time it still shows that there are still overdoses happening and we still need to put in our time and effort to really do our best to try to stop overdoses from happening."
That effort will continue, Kling said.
"Nothing changes, it's still a top priority."
The decrease is also part of a province-wide trend that has seen a 35-per-cent drop, to 538 deaths from 763. Vancouver continues to lead the way at 144 deaths, down from 389, followed by Surrey at 72, down from 214.
However, on a per capita basis, the Northern Health region is the second-most prolific at 22 per 100,000 population, while Vancouver Coast Health is first at 27 per 100,000. The average for the province is 22 per 100,000.
Kling said the widespread distribution of Naloxone kits and the establishment of overdose prevention sites may have played significant roles in the drop but could not say for sure.
"Now that we've seen a decline for a period now, It's a good time to take a check to see what's happening but I can't say with any confidence about (the reasons behind) what's going on," she said.
The count for Prince George so far is the lowest seen in five years. From 10 deaths by halfway through 2014, the total rose to 12, 18, and 24 during the same periods respectively in 2015, 2016 and 2017.
For 2016-18, illicit Fentanyl and analogues accounted for 81.3 per cent of the deaths across B.C., followed by cocaine at 50.1 per cent, methamphetamine and amphetamine at 31.9 per cent, ethyl alcohol at 27 per cent and heroin at 17.4 per cent.
The full report is posted with this story at www.princegeorgecitizen.com.
