UPDATE Nov. 2 – The BC Coroners Service says there were no lives lost in Kamloops to toxic drugs in the month of September.

New preliminary figures released Wednesday shows 62 deaths due to illicit drugs in Kamloops as of the end of September this year. That figure is unchanged from the end of August.

“To clarify, the Coroners Service is investigating one death in Kamloops that took place in September and is suspected to have been caused by unregulated drugs,” BC Coroners Service spokesperson Ryan Panton told Radio NL.

“Our data is dynamic and, particularly in regards to more recent deaths, is subject to change as investigations and completed and causes of death confirmed.”

Panton also said the last month with zero reported toxic drug deaths in Kamloops was September 2019.

Provincewide, there were 175 toxic drug deaths in September – an average of 5.9 per day – taking the total on the year to 1,836 people.

A record number of people have died due to toxic drugs in Kamloops in each of the last three years – 60 in 2020, 77 in 2021, and 91 in 2022. As it stands, the city is currently on pace for 83 toxic drug deaths this year.

B.C. though is on pace to hit 2,448 deaths, which would make it a fourth consecutive record year surpassing the old record of 2,383 deaths set just last year.

“Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death in British Columbia for persons aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural disease combined,” Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe said.

“The lives of at least 13,112 British Columbians have been lost to unregulated drugs since the public health emergency was first declared in April 2016.”

The latest release of toxic drug deaths came as the Coroner’s Death Review Panel wanted community groups to be allowed to hand out drugs without a prescription.

“It reflects the panel’s recognition of the need for an urgent and dedicated response to a serious and on-going public health and safety risk,” Lapointe added. “While the concept of safer supply may be challenging for some to understand, the expert members of the panel have provided a thoughtful and careful way forward and out of this crisis.”

“It is clear that safer supply is only one piece in a necessary continuum of care for British Columbians at serious risk of death. While that continuum of care is being developed, thousands more of our family members, friends and colleagues are at risk of dying. As the panel found, urgent access to a safe alternative to the current toxic, unregulated and ever-growing illicit drug market is necessary to keep people alive.”

B.C.’s minister of mental health and addictions, Jennifer Whiteside, rejected that proposal in a letter to Lapointe that was distributed to the media before the coroner’s news conference Wednesday.

Non-prescription models for the delivery of pharmaceutical alternatives are not under consideration, her letter said.

“Accordingly, I cannot accept the primary recommendation of this report to pursue a non-prescriber model of safer supply,” Whiteside said.