The BC Coroner’s Service says there were 15 suspected unregulated drug deaths in the Cariboo region through the month of August.
8 of those were in the Cariboo-Chilcotin region, which includes Williams Lake.
There were 19 in all of 2022.
Five suspected toxic drug overdoses were reported in Quesnel through the month of August.
There were 7 in all of 2022.
And there were 2 suspected overdoses in 100 Mile House through the first 8 months of this year.
That compares to 3 in all of 2022.
Northern Health has the highest death rate out of the five health authorities at 58.2 per 100,000.
Interior Health is at 51, which is third.
BC reported the lowest number of deaths from toxic drug overdoses in more than a year last month with 174.
That was down by 14 percent compared to July but still works out to about 5.6 people per day.
Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says that also doesn’t mean that the crisis is over.
“We’re still loosing people in heartbreaking numbers. We need better quality and access to harm reduction and treatment services, and increased access to regulated drugs.”
Almost 13-thousand British Columbians have died from toxic drugs since the province declared a health emergency in April of 2016.
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