The BC Coroners Service’s latest report on illicit drug-related deaths shows that the number of fatal overdoses continue to be on the decline in Victoria.
For the first eight months of 2019, there have been a total of 35 deaths caused by illicit drug toxicity reported in southern Vancouver Island. Of these overdose cases, 100% have had fentanyl detected.
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Across British Columbia, there were a total of 690 illicit drug toxicity deaths for the first eight months of this year which marks a 33% decrease from the same time period in 2018.
In the first eight months of 2019 and throughout 2018, fentanyl was detected in over 85% of all illicit drug toxicity deaths throughout the province.
Data from the BC Coroners Service shows that in most parts of BC, drug overdose deaths took a sharp spike in 2016 and continued to rise before slowing down this year.
There have been no deaths reported at supervised consumption sites or drug overdose prevention sites.
An earlier report from the Coroners Service also showed a decline in the number of illicit-drug related deaths in the first three months of 2019 when compared to the previous year.
