The B.C. Coroners Service has issued a public safety warning to people using drugs bought from the illegal market following a spike in overdose deaths.

The coroners service says preliminary data points to more than 200 overdose deaths in November due to toxic drugs.

It says B.C. is expected to post record drug deaths this year, above the high of 2,400 last year, with an average of seven deaths a day for the past seven weeks.

There have been 67 toxic drug deaths in Kamloops between January and October, putting the city on pace for 80 such deaths this year. It would make 2023 the second deadliest year on record, behind the 92 that were reported in 2022.

There have been 2,039 toxic drug deaths across B.C. this year, putting the province on pace for 2,447 such deaths this year, which would make 2023 the deadliest year on record.

The coroners service says it historically does not issue monthly drug-death updates in December because of the holiday season, but the recent surge in deaths prompted the public warning.

The warning says overdose deaths in the winter months have been higher than other times of the year, so this early increase could be a sign of another challenging season for people who use drugs in the province.

Retiring B.C. Coroner Lisa Lapointe says she’s frustrated and disappointed the B.C. government didn’t accept the recommendations of a recent death panel review that called for the province to support giving controlled substances to people without prescriptions.