There were 113 overdose deaths in March in B.C., the first time the monthly death toll exceeded 100 in the past year.
According to the BC Coroners Service, overdose deaths in the province jumped in March compared with February, with 113 people dying in March of suspected illicit drug toxicity.
That is a three per cent dip from March of last year but represents a 61 per cent increase from February.
The BC Coroners Service says the last time there were more than 100 deaths in a month was in March 2019.
The service says 76 per cent of those who have died from illicit overdose deaths this year were men, and the Northern Health authority has the highest rate of overdose deaths.
Overall in 2020 so far, the townships experiencing the highest number of illicit drug toxicity deaths are Vancouver, Surrey, and Victoria.
Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority have had the highest number of illicit drug toxicity deaths (86 and 68 deaths, respectively) in 2020, making up 59 per cent of all such deaths during this period.
According to the BC Coroners Service, 86 per cent of illicit drug toxicity deaths this year occurred inside (57 per cent in private residences and 29 per cent in other residences including social and supportive housing, SROs, shelters, and hotels and other indoor locations) and 9 per cent occurred outside in vehicles, sidewalks, streets, parks, etc.
There have been no supervised consumption or drug overdose prevention sites.
The B.C. government declared a public health emergency in 2016 when deaths began to spike, and since then more than 5,000 people have died of illicit overdoses.
With files from The Canadian Press
CHEK News
