There has been a drop in the number of overdose deaths in Kamloops this year, according to the BC Coroners Service.
New data shows there were 24 deaths in Kamloops between January and August of 2019, and 690 across the province. Coroners Spokesperson Andy Watson says the city is on track for fewer overdose deaths compared to the 46 deaths in 2018.
“So far for 2019, we’re down to about 3 deaths per month compared to almost four deaths per month for 2018,” he said. “We’re encouraged to see a downward trend, but we’ll continue to look for a full year picture before commenting further.”
Watson says across the province, there were 79 suspected drug overdose deaths in August, a 37 per cent decrease from August 2018. That still translates to 2.5 deaths per day in August, and it was a 13 per cent increase from the 70 deaths in July 2019.
This time last year, the Coroners Service was reporting 1,037 deaths in the first eight months of 2018.
Seventy one per cent of the deaths this year were people aged 30 to 59, while men have accounted for 77 per cent of all suspected overdose deaths in 2019.
Out of all the province’s health authorities, Interior Health reported the lowest rate of overdose deaths (17.5 per 100,000 people) and the second-lowest number of overdose deaths at 93.
The Coroners Service also notes there have been no deaths reported at supervised consumption sites or drug overdose prevention sites.