Toxic Drug Crisis

More than 14,500 lives lost to toxic drugs since public health crisis began

Unregulated toxic drugs claimed the lives of 182 people in April 2024 according to data from the BC Coroners Service.

While this represents a 24% decrease from the number of deaths in April 2023 (239), the risk posed by unregulated drug supply remains very high.  

April marks eight years since the public-health emergency was first declared. At least 14,582 people in the province have lost their lives to toxic drugs in that time, including 763 in the first four months of 2024. Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death for people in British Columbia age 10 to 59, and accounts for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined.

Fentanyl continues to be the primary driver of unregulated toxic-drug deaths in 2024, detected in 82% of toxicological test results. Coroner investigations confirm that substances were consumed through smoking in nearly three-quarters of the deaths in April.

Nearly half of those who died were between the age of 30 and 49 and seven in 10 were males.The death rate for females has nearly doubled since 2020, from about 13 to 23 per 100,000 in 2024. Toxic drugs continue to claim the lives of about six people in British Columbia per day.