Illicit drug deaths are slowly on the decline according to new data released by the BC Coroners Service today (Oct. 16).
The latest numbers show August 2019 had a suspected total of 79 drug toxicity deaths which is a 37 per cent decrease from August last year (125 deaths recorded).
But it was an increase compared to July 2019. There were 70 deaths in July which equates to a rise of 13 per cent.
Prince George, specifically, has had 20 deaths from January to August 2019. All of 2018, Prince George had a total of 49.
The Northern Health Authority has also seen a decline in pace compared to last year.
To date, there has been a total of 47 deaths while 2018 finished with a yearly total of 98.
Data recorded from January 2018 to August 2019 shows a total of 145 deaths for the region.
Northern Health's illicit drug death rate per 100,000 has also seen a decrease to date with the rate recorded at 23.7. Last year, the authority finished with a rate of 33.2 with only a few months left in 2019.
For B.C. as a whole, there have been 690 deaths recorded to date in 2019, which is a major decrease from the same time last year that saw 1,037 recorded in the same time period.
Provincially-speaking, 2018 finished at 1,541 illicit drug overdose deaths. If the 2019 trend continues for a remaining couple of months, the total will be substantially lower.
The following numbers are the Local Health Area deaths per 100,000 for Prince George, which has seen a steady increase since 2013:
- 2013-15: 9.8
- 2014-16: 13.8
- 2015-17: 19.5
- 2016-18: 32.3
- 2017-19: 35.7
Data recorded is from Jan. 1, 2019 to Aug. 31, 2019. The numbers provided can also change as more cases are completed.
