b.c. paramedics responded to 138 potential drug overdoses wednesday, the highest number on record in a day, according to bc emergency health services.
emergency health services spokesperson shannon miller said there were 45 overdose calls in vancouver, 17 in surrey and 10 in victoria. the rest were across the province.
with 329 deaths recorded in the first two months of 2021, b.c. is on pace to surpass last year’s grim record of 1,726 lives lost to illicit drug overdoses.
last month, the b.c. coroners service said another 155 people died of suspected illicit drug overdoses in february, making it it one of the deadliest months.
in a
report released last month
, the coroner’s service says the 155 deaths, which translates to 5.5 deaths per day, is more than twice the total of 75 recorded in february of last year.
fentanyl, the powerful synthetic opioid fuelling the crisis, has been linked to 85 per cent of the reported deaths in 2021, while carfentanil, which is similar to fentanyl but 100 times more potent, has been detected in 31 deaths this year. last year, carfentanil was detected in 65 deaths for the total 12 months.