Spike in Okanagan drug overdose deaths, latest numbers from B.C. Coroners

KELOWNA — The province’s health minister has said overdose deaths could reach a record high this year.

The B.C. Coroner’s service says the number of overdose deaths has hit 256 since the beginning of the year, that’s more than two fatal overdoses a day across B.C.

That deadly toll is up 88 per cent from the same period last year. Fentanyl, detected in half of those cases, is up from one-third in 2015.

READ MORE: Drug overdoses up, despite B.C. emergency call

In the Okanagan, the numbers seem to bear out the dire prediction.

The latest numbers from the coroners service show that 14 died from overdoses in Kelowna, two in West Kelowna, three in Vernon and one in Penticton between January and April 30.

Those numbers are compared to 19 overdose deaths all last year in Kelowna, two in West Kelowna, eight last year in Vernon and three the same year in Penticton.

Health Minister Terry Lake is hopeful the overdose death numbers will drop as a result of action taken by the province.

However, he says last month’s declaration of a public health emergency doesn’t appear to have slowed the number of overdose deaths, with fentanyl playing an increasingly central role.