Overdose deaths down 10% in January as 150 die from toxic drugs, coroner says

VICTORIA — The BC Coroners Service says 150 people died from toxic drugs across the province in January, down 10 per cent from the same month last year.

A statement issued Thursday from the service and the Ministry of Public Safety says the decrease, based on preliminary data, still means nearly five British Columbians are dying from an overdose each day.

The coroner says 80 per cent of those who died were men, and almost three quarters were people between the ages of 30 and 59, statistics that have been similar in the almost 10 years since the province declared the overdose crisis.

It says fentanyl and similar drugs were present in a “significant majority,” of deaths, with around eight in 10 tests returning positive results, and most people who died consumed their toxic drugs by smoking them.

More than half of all unregulated drug deaths in 2026 came from the Fraser Health and Vancouver Coastal Health authorities.

The highest rates were in Northern Health, which recorded 58 deaths per 100,000 people, and Interior Health, which saw 40 deaths per 100,000 people.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 12, 2026.

The Canadian Press