One person died of a suspected illicit drug toxicity-related death in New Westminster in February 2022, according to the BC Coroners Service.
The coroners service released preliminary data on April 12 showing that at least 174 British Columbians lost their lives to illicit drug toxicity in February 2022. All totalled, the toxic drug supply has claimed the lives of 9,410 British Columbians since January 2016.
"As we approach the sixth anniversary of the declaration of the public-health emergency into substance-related harms, we are continuing to lose members of our communities at an unprecedented and terrifying rate," chief coroner Lisa Lapointe said in a news release. "The deaths of another 174 B.C. residents, so many of them young and middle-aged men with years of life ahead of them, is yet another reminder that urgent action is needed on a provincewide scale. I extend my deepest sympathy to the many families, friends and communities who are grieving the loss of a loved one."
The coroner noted that February is the 17th consecutive month in which more than 150 lives were lost to illicit drugs in B.C. February’s 174 deaths equates to approximately 6.2 deaths per day.
In an email to the Record, the BC Coroners Service said illicit drug toxicity was the suspected cause of one death in New Westminster in February. That’s in addition to the five deaths in January 2022.
According to the coroners service, 74% of the deaths in 2022 have been to people between the ages of 30 and 59. Six of the lives lost in February were to people under the age of 19, after no such deaths were reported among that age group in January.
In the first two months of 2022, Vancouver recorded the most illicit drug toxicity deaths in the province with 95. That’s followed by: Surrey (30); Victoria (22); Abbotsford (19); Kamloops and Prince George (16); Burnaby (15); Kelowna (13); Langley (9); Maple Ridge, Chilliwack, Delta and Penticton (8); and Nanaimo and Richmond (7).
In 2021, 43 people in New Westminster died of illicit drug toxicity deaths.
