VANCOUVER — Illicit drug overdoses claimed 1,422 lives in British Columbia last year, setting a new threshold for the crisis that has been fuelled by the powerful opioid fentanyl. The BC Coroners Service says last year’s death toll is 43 per cent higher than 2016 when 993 overdose deaths were recorded. The coroner says there appears to be more overdose deaths in the five days after income assistance payments are issued, with the average of six deaths per day. The coroner says four out of five of those who died were male. The province began distributing free kits containing naloxone through pharmacies in December in an effort to curb overdose deaths.

Source: National Post January 31, 2018 09:00 UTC