Nanaimo exceeds 2016 overdose fatalities with several months to go
NANAIMO — With still several months left in the year, more people in Nanaimo have lost their lives to an overdose than all of 2016.
Updated statistics from the BC Coroners Service show 33 people died of fatal overdoses in Nanaimo so far in 2017, up from 24 through July. Twenty-eight people passed away last year. The stats show up to Aug. 31, leaving four months of fatal overdoses to report. More than 1,000 people died across B.C.
“It’s very uncomfortable to realize there’s a problem to that extent,” Nanaimo coun. Ian Thorpe told NanaimoNewsNOW.
He said guiding Nanaimo through the crisis and the creation of an overdose prevention site on Wesley St. has been a difficult time for council.