BC toxic drug deaths hit record high in 2023: coroner

There’s been another grim milestone in B.C.’s ongoing unregulated toxic drug crisis, with the province recording an unprecedented number of deaths in 2023.

The BC Coroners Service says there were 2,511 suspected unregulated toxic drug deaths, marking “the highest number of suspected deaths ever recorded in a year.”

That figure is five per cent higher than the number of deaths recorded in 2022, which was 2,383.

The coroners service says the number of deaths reported in November and December 2023 amounts to about 7.2 deaths a day, with 220 and 219 fatalities respectively.

According to the agency, the majority of people — 70 per cent — who were killed by toxic unregulated drugs in 2023 were between the ages of 30 and 59, while 77 per cent were male.

In the entirety of the year, only one death was reported at an overdose prevention site, the coroner says.

More to come.

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