Four November illicit drug deaths reported in Prince George as B.C. maintains five-per-day average

COVID-19 deaths in B.C. are rising, but so are casualties in the province’s opioid crisis.

According to the latest report from the BC Coroners Service, and much like October’s data, roughly five people died per day in the month of November from an illicit drug overdose, totalling 153 in that 30-day span.

Four of those deaths occurred in Prince George; the city’s year-to-date total at 47 since Jan. 1, 2020, four off its 2018 record of 51 and nearly doubling its 2019 mark of 25.

Prince George is among the top five cities in B.C. with one of the highest death rates by illicit drugs, along with Hope, Vancouver, Keremeos and Lillooet.

Thus far, B.C. has witnessed 1,548 illicit drug deaths in 2020, one less than its record of 1,549 in 2018, and is likely to surpass it with one month of data still to be counted.

B.C.'s monthly illicit drug overdose death rates by gender from 2018 to 2020. By BC Coroners Service

Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe says COVID-19’s mental impacts have become deadly, especially for those with problematic substance use.

“Ensuring access to critical harm reduction measures including naloxone, supervised consumption sites, overdose prevention sites and drug checking services are essential if we want to prevent future deaths,” she said in a news release this morning (Dec. 21).

“Providing those with substance use disorder access to pharmaceutical alternatives will be of immense benefit to reduce the harms and suffering resulting from the ‘for-profit’ illicit drug market. Additionally, as recommended by coroners’ inquest juries and death review panels, an accessible, evidence-based and accountable treatment and recovery system is desperately needed to support those seeking these supports on their path to wellness.”

In Northern Health as a whole, 115 people have succumbed to drug overdoses in 2020, to which fentanyl was found in 93 of those deaths, and has well-surpassed its 2018 record of 101.

In Prince George, fentanyl was detected in 39 out of its year-to-date death toll. 

The north maintains the highest death rate per authority at 44 per 100,000 individuals, more than the provincial average of 33 per 100,000.

B.C.'s illicit drug overdose death rate by health authority. By BC Coroners Service

B.C.’s November total of 153 is an 89 per cent increase from the same month in 2019, which saw 81 illicit drug overdose deaths.

The Coroners Service says fentanyl continues to be found in more than 80 per cent of illicit drug toxicity deaths this year, ahead of cocaine and methamphetamine.

“Just as there are many paths into addiction and mental health challenges, there are also many paths out. People need options and they need our compassion," said B.C.'s Mental Health and Addictions Minister Sheila Malcolmson in her own statement.

“There isn’t a single family or person in the province who hasn’t been impacted in some way by the two public health emergencies. One life lost is one too many. I’m committed to continuing to connect more people to treatment and recovery services and save more lives.” 

As of this publication, 15 people have died in Northern Health from COVID-19 among 1,509 infections that tested positive since March.

There are 419 active cases, 20 people in critical care out of 45 total hospitalizations and 1,075 recoveries.