North Vancouver Island saw a 400 per cent increase in fatal overdoses in February. (Spencer Sterritt/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

ongoing epidemic

North and central Vancouver Island hit hard by ongoing overdose epidemic

Mar 24, 2021 | 12:30 PM

NANAIMO — Much of Vancouver Island sustained an increasing number of fatal overdoses.

Twenty-six people lost their lives to illicit substances in February. Though south Vancouver Island recorded the most overdoses with 11, north Vancouver Island saw the number of lives lost quadruple from the month before. Two people passed away in January while eight people died in February.

In central Vancouver Island, seven people died for a total of 12 so far in 2021.

Three of those deaths were in Nanaimo, which saw two fatalities the month before from illicit drugs.

This is roughly in line with overdose trends from early 2020 and late 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic began.

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“The number of deaths due to toxic illicit drugs in February highlights the ongoing critical risk to public health and safety from the illicit drug market,” Lisa Lapointe, B.C.’s chief coroner, said in a release.

It was the worst February B.C. has suffered with 155 suspected illicit drug toxicity deaths. It’s a 107 per cent increase from February, 2020, right before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the province and the border.

Though the number of deaths is shockingly high, it’s an 11 per cent decrease from January.

Based on only the initial months of 2021, the year could surpass 2020 as the most deadly year in B.C.’s ongoing crisis.

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