2023 will mark deadly new highs in the number of lives lost to toxic drugs in Nanaimo and, likely, the central Vancouver Island region. (Dreamstime)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

grim statistics

Nanaimo losing more people to toxic drugs in 2023 than ever before

Aug 30, 2023 | 4:47 PM

NANAIMO — While it won’t be made official for at least a month, 2023 is already the deadliest year in the Harbour City’s battle against drug toxicity.

Data from the B.C. Coroner’s Service shows 76 people have died as a result of toxic drugs between January 1 and July 31, 2023. Seventy-seven people died from similar circumstances in all of last year, a number which shattered previous records.

At an average of nearly 11 people per month, the 2022 mark was likely eclipsed in the first week of August and will see Nanaimo set a new, higher grim total through the final five months of the year.

Nanaimo has accounted for around five per cent of drug toxicity deaths through 2023, behind only Vancouver (26 per cent), Surrey (nine per cent) and Victoria (six per cent).

A similar story is unfolding across the central Island region as a whole with 129 recorded fatalities due to drug toxicity in the year’s first seven months.

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Should the current pace continue, over 220 people in the region will lose their lives to drug toxicity this year.

Central Vancouver Island places only behind Vancouver for drug death rates per 100,000 people, with 71.2 fatalities compared to Vancouver’s 89.2.

Provincially, 198 people died through July alone with at least 1,455 deaths attributed to toxic drugs since January.

“We are continuing to experience record numbers of deaths province-wide because of the toxic drug supply,” Lisa Lapointe, chief coroner, said in a statement. “The unregulated illicit market is highly unpredictable and continues to put thousands of lives at risk each month.”

She added despite constant recommendations for expanded safe supply, few have access to street drug alternatives.

As has become common throughout the toxic drug crisis, a majority of deaths were among working-aged men.

Sixty-nine per cent of toxic drug deaths this year were in people aged 30 to 59, 77 per cent of whom were men.

Eight in ten deaths have occurred inside with nearly half at private residences.

Fentanyl remains a major killer, found in 83 per cent of investigated deaths province-wide. Rates of fentanyl use were slightly higher (88 per cent) within Island Health.

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