B.C. saw record number of toxic drug deaths in 2023, coroner says
By Lisa Steacy
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VANCOUVER, B.C. (CTV Network) — Toxic drugs in B.C. killed more people than ever before in 2023 – with 2,511 deaths reported.
“More people than ever are dying — nearly seven people every day in 2023. Each day, coroners across B.C. go into communities and retrieve the bodies of the dead,” chief coroner Lisa LaPointe said at a Wednesday news conference.
The update is the first in nearly three months and preliminary data shows that 220 people died in November and 219 died in December of last year. The death toll for 2023 represents a five per cent increase from 2022, when 2,383 people died.
“We can take measures to save lives or we can continue to count the dead,” LaPointe said.
She also decried the “politicization” of measures like decriminalization and safer supply.
“We are talking about human beings. We are talking about people’s lives, and using this issue for political fodder is extremely disappointing,” LaPoionte said.
LaPointe – who has been on the forefront of the crisis – noted that Wednesday’s news conference would be her last public appearance. She announced her retirement late last year, saying she will be stepping down when her term ends on Feb. 18, 2024.
“It deeply saddens me that we have been unable to influence the essential change necessary to reduce the tragic impacts of toxic drugs on so many thousands of our family members, friends and colleagues across the province,” she said when announcing her departure.
Nearly 14,000 people have died in the province since the crisis was declared a public-health emergency in 2016.
LaPointe said that she fears that unless the province takes bold, significant action – instead of ” making announcements that don’t actually make a material difference in people’s lives” – the next chief coroner will be back at a podium at the end of 2024 announcing another record-breaking number of deaths that could have been prevented.
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