(Ministry from Public Safety and Solicitor General)
The BC Coroners Service has released two updated reports on illicit drug deaths and fentanyl-detected deaths to the end of March 2019.
Key findings include:
* The monthly average for illicit drug deaths for the first quarter of 2019 (89 deaths/month) is down 32% from the same period in 2018 (132 deaths/month).
* More than two-thirds of the illicit-drug deaths in the first quarter of 2019 involved people aged 30 to 59. Males accounted for four in every five of all illicit-drug deaths over the same period.
* Also for the first quarter of 2019, nine in every 10 illicit drug deaths occurred inside, including more than half in private residences.
* There were 82 suspected illicit drug overdose deaths with fentanyl detected in March 2019.
* Carfentanil was detected in over one-quarter (64 of 227) of the fentanyl-detected deaths in the first quarter of 2019.
* Fentanyl or its analogues were detected in approximately 85% of illicit drug deaths for the first quarter of 2019 and 87% of illicit drug deaths in 2018.
* There were no deaths at supervised consumption or drug overdose prevention sites.