The BC Coroners Service has released a report for the summer and the numbers don’t look good for the Cariboo.
It says there were 4 unregulated drug deaths in the District of 100 Mile House through August of this year.
That is already more than the 3 recorded in 12 months in the previous three years.
There was a record 6 back in 2021.
The Cariboo-Chilcotin, which includes Williams Lake, had 12 suspected overdose deaths through August.
There were a record 19 recorded in all of 2024.
Quesnel had 10 suspected illicit drug deaths through the first 8 months of this year.
That compares to a record 19 in all of 2024.
Northern Health had the highest illicit drug death rate of the 6 health authorities in the province at 45.6 per 100,000 people, followed by Interior Health at 39.3.
Provincially, there were 302 deaths between July (153) and August (149), which is just under five people per day.
Smoking was the most common way of consumption with 64 percent, followed by nasal insufflation (11 percent), injection (10 percent), and oral (5 percent).
Fentanyl was detected in 70 percent of unregulated drug deaths.
A more detailed summary can be found here.
