Overdose deaths in the province have nearly doubled compared to last year, according to new data released Thursday by the BC Coroners Service.
There have been 1,103 suspected drug overdose deaths from January to the end of September this year, up from 607 at this time in 2016.
The Coroners Service says there were 80 suspected drug overdose deaths this September, a 31 per cent increase from September 2016.
Fentanyl was detected in more than 83 per cent of those cases, which is an increase of 147 per cent over the same period last year.
BC Coroners Service says four of five who died were male and almost three of four deaths involved people between the ages of 30 and 59.
Nine out of 10 of the deaths happened indoors, including more than half in homes.
No deaths are reported to have occurred at any supervised consumption site or a drug overdose prevention site.
