There were 1,489 suspected illicit drug overdose deaths across British Columbia in 2018, and health officials say the province needs new approaches to the problem before the numbers will start declining.
That number from the B.C. Coroners Service is up slightly from a year earlier, but the 2018 total is expected to grow as the coroner wraps up its investigations. Already, more people died from overdoses last year than from homicide, suicide and car crashes combined.
Dr. Bonnie Henry, B.C.'s provincial health officer, said the numbers make it clear that drug users need a safe, regulated supply of opioids.
"If we're going to turn the corner on this complex crisis, we need to find the ways to provide safer alternatives to the unregulated and highly toxic drug supply and to end the stigma associated with criminalization of people who use drugs," Henry said in a press release.
"We need options to provide people at risk of overdose with low-barrier access to a regulated supply of opioids, and we need to connect people who use drugs with the supports they need rather than sending them to the criminal justice system."
