Local Community Advertising
More stats have been revealed stating that the ongoing overdose battle in BC is not getting better, but continues to climb.
On April 19th, the Province released its latest stats on illicit overdoses from March in BC.
According to the Province, the number of illicit drug deaths in March reached the third-highest number ever for a single month.
The BC Coroners Services showed that March saw 120 deaths directly related to illicit drug use.
On average, about four people died per day in March.
In March of 2016, there were 79 deaths related to illicit drug use.
So who are the main users of the illicit substances?
The Province has identified that the age majority for illicit drug overdoses range from age 30 to 39 and 40 to 49 years.
Those stats relate to the first three months of 2017.
Of those overdoses, 82.7 per cent of the individuals were males.
"The introduction of illicit fentanyl to the illegal drug market has had devastating results, with literally scores of our community members dying in their homes across the province," said Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe.
She added that the introduction of fentanyl is the main contributor of the significant spike in illicit drug overdose deaths since 2012.
The majority of deaths took place in private residences and the reminder, 34.3 per cent occurred in other indoor locations and 10.4 per cent occurred outside or in vehicles.
No deaths were recorded at supervised consumption sites or drug overdose prevention sites.
Local Community Advertising