(Files by Brendan Pawliw-MyPGNow)
While the numbers are down in Northern Health, The BC Coroners Service is renewing calls for improved access to a regulated, safe drug supply in the province.
It comes as BC approaches the four year anniversary of the declaration of a public health emergency and as many people are dying province-wide as back then.
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says too many people are still dying…
“Today in BC, three people will die of drug toxicity, three people died yesterday and it’s very likely that three will die tomorrow. By this time next week, twenty more people will die of drug toxicity.”
In the Northern Health Region, 55 fentanyl-detected deaths were recorded in 2019, which is down from 87 in 2018.
Middle-aged men continue to make up the bulk, more than 75 percent, of the suspected overdose deaths in the province.