Overdose victims trending younger as drug supply grows ever more toxic, death review panel finds

A new report by the B.C. Coroners Service examining four years of illicit drug-related deaths says an increasingly toxic supply in the province is leading to increased deaths and that efforts to prohibit illegal drugs is only making the crisis worse.

The report, entitled B.C. Coroners Service Death Review Panel: A Review of Illicit Drug Toxicity Deaths, reviewed 6,007 deaths from illicit drug toxicity between Aug. 1, 2017, and July 31, 2021, and concludes that swifter action is needed to reduce the death rate in B.C.

"Illicit drug toxicity is the leading cause of unnatural death in B.C., accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, motor vehicle incidents, drownings and fire-related deaths combined," a release about the report said.

B.C. declared a public health emergency in April 2016 when the powerful opioid fentanyl created a surge in deaths. More than 8,800 people in B.C. have since died from suspected fatal overdoses. 

In 2021, there were 2,224 suspected overdose deaths in the province, a 26 per cent jump over the previous year. 

The new report found that deaths from illicit drug-related overdoses are increasing both in number and in rate, the drug supply has become increasingly toxic, and the average age of death is trending younger. It is now at 42.

Currently six people are dying everyday in the province from illicit drugs, said the new report.

Indigenous Peoples are disproportionately represented in the fatalities and individuals living in poverty and with housing instability or with poor mental health are more vulnerable, it said.

The report makes several recommendations, including ensuring a safer drug supply and having provincial ministries involved in the crisis develop 30-, 60- and 90-day action plans to provide better monitoring of how and why deaths are occurring.

"We recognize that many of the timelines in the report are aggressive, but COVID-19 has demonstrated how swiftly policymakers can act when lives are at stake and we know that every month of inaction equates to hundreds more lives lost," said the report's authors, who include death review panel chair Michael Egilson.

The panel was appointed by the chief coroner and included professionals with expertise in public health, health services, substance use and addiction, medicine, mental health, Indigenous health, education, income assistance, oversight and regulation, and policing.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe has forwarded each of the panel's recommendations to the relevant ministries and organizations.

"As we approach the sixth anniversary of the declaration of the public-health emergency into substance-related harms, co-ordinated, urgent action is needed to reduce the devastation illicit drugs have inflicted on so many people in our province," Lapointe said in a release.

"This report, by a panel of subject-matter experts, provides a roadmap. It is my sincere hope that their advice will be actioned."