Deaths due to illegal drug overdoses in the Interior Health region in January were down from the same month last year.
Across the IH service region, 21 people died of an illegal drug overdose in January. That compares to 31 in January of 2024.
Thirteen of the 21 deaths in January were in the Okanagan.
Seven of those deaths were in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½, and two of them were in Vernon. There were no such illegal overdose deaths in Penticton in January.
Across sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ 152 people died of an illegal drug overdose in January. That was the fourth consecutive month in which the number of such deaths was below 160.
Fentanyl was determined to be a factor in 77 per cent of the deaths.
The three sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ cities with the highest number of illegal drug overdose deaths in January were Vancouver, Surrey, and Greater Victoria, consistent with those areas’ overall population.
But the highest rates of death due to illegal drug overdoses were in the Vancouver Coastal Health region, at 40 deaths per 100,000 people, and Northern Health, at 32 deaths per 100,000 people.
Through all of 2024, deaths from illegal drug overdoses were down in sa¹ú¼Ê´«Ã½ and Vernon, but up in Penticton.
Across the province, such deaths were down 13 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023.
