The BC Coroners Service reports there were 1,489 suspected illicit drug overdose deaths in the province in 2018, which is slightly more than the year before. The total will likely increase further as investigations conclude. Chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, says the almost 1,500 deaths far outweigh the numbers of deaths from motor vehicle incidents, homicides and suicides combined. She adds fentanyl is now implicated in 86 per cent of overdose deaths. A continuing trend highlighted in the report is that middle-aged men are over represented, with 80 per cent of suspected overdose deaths involving males.
In the Koootenay Boundary Health Services Delivery Area there were zero deaths in 2008; last year that had risen to 13 which is down from the year before with 17. For the East Kootenay, last year there was nine overdose deaths.
There were no deaths at supervised consumption or overdose prevention sites.