The month of April saw the number of overdose deaths in Kamloops rise by more than 60 per cent and BC Health Officials say there are reasons for that.

Provincial Health Officer Dr Bonnie Henry says she’s been dealing with this for a long time and there is no one single thing that can be done.

“The toxicity has increased and part of that is due to the supply chains being cut off as they have been for many other things and drugs then being either manufactured locally or cut with other materials that are toxic as well.”

“Also think that there’s some impact on people receiving amounts of money and of course those people who are dealing drugs are taking advantage of people who are in that position.”

“With this increased toxicity, with the challenges that we have with providing services particularly to people who use drugs who are homeless or under-housed. Access to overdose prevention sites has been interrupted in some places and we’ve had to change those models and we’ve seen that in Victoria and in Vancouver as well and certainly in the Interior.”

There were seven overdose deaths in Kamloops in the month of April which brought the total for the year to 18.

Health Minister Adrian Dix appeared on the NL Morning News on Thursday and reiterated the comments around a poisoned drug supply.