Fentanyl is the opioid at the heart of the resurging overdose fatalities within B.C. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

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Overdose crisis in Nanaimo continues to surge amid COVID-19 pandemic

Nov 25, 2020 | 10:40 AM

NANAIMO — The number of people who fatally overdosed throughout Nanaimo and the central Vancouver Island area remains high.

Data from the BC Coroners Service released on Wednesday, Nov. 25 showed four people in Nanaimo fatally overdosed in October, bringing the total number of lives lost in 2020 in Nanaimo to 34.

The city is the ninth most affected municipality within B.C. during the resurging overdose crisis.

The area has already exceeded the 2019 total number of overdoses and is slated to surpass the number of deaths in 2018.

It’s unlikely Nanaimo will suffer more fatal overdoses than in 2017, which was the height of the public health crisis, when 56 people passed away.

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Nanaimo accounted for nearly half of the fatal overdoses throughout the central Vancouver Island area, which also includes Oceanside, Port Alberni and Tofino. Nine people lost their lives in October throughout the health service area.

Nine people passed away in central Vancouver Island the month before.

South Vancouver Island, which is consistently listed as one of the hardest hit areas in B.C. for fatal overdoses, suffered 14.

Within Island Health, 60 per cent of all fatal overdoses have happened inside a private residence.

Across B.C., 162 people died after using substances in October.

It was the fourth most fatal month in B.C. this year, down from the resurgent height of the crisis in May, June and July.

October remained a more fatal month for overdoses than any month in 2017 and 2018.

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