According to the latest stats from the BC Coroner’s Service, Kamloops has lost 11 lives to the toxic drug crisis through January, February and March, 2025. That does represent a slower pace of fatalities than what we have seen in the recent past.

In the entire province, there were 132 in February and 143 in March credited to the unregulated drugs. That actually puts BC on pace for its lowest year-end total since 2019.

The 11 deaths in Kamloops through the first quarter put Kamloops on pace for 44 for the entire year. That would be quite a bit lower than the year-end totals of at least 60 for every year since 2020, including a record 93 in 2022.

Province-wide in 2025, the BC Coroners Service says 76% of those who have died due to toxic drugs have been male, while 67% were between the ages of 30 and 59.

Consistent with reporting throughout the public-health emergency, fentanyl and its analogues continue to be the most common substance detected in expedited toxicological testing. More than three-quarters of decedents who underwent expedited testing in 2025 were found to have fentanyl in their systems (70%), followed by methamphetamine (50%) and fluorofentanyl (47%).

Additional findings in 2025 include:

• the number of unregulated drug deaths in February and March equates to approximately 4.7 and 4.6 deaths per day;
• the cities experiencing the highest number of unregulated drug deaths so far in 2025 are Vancouver (97), Surrey (52) and Greater Victoria (28);
• the highest rates of deaths reported were in the Interior and Northern Health (35 per 100,000);
• 45% of deaths reported occurred in a private residence, compared with 20% outdoors; and
• smoking continues to be the primary mode of consumption of unregulated toxic drugs, with 62% of investigations indicating the decedent smoked their substances.