B.C. sees precipitous drop in toxic drug death rates in some hardest hit communities

Overall number of deaths down 20%, yet 5.3 people die every day on average

There is no question the number of B.C.’s toxic drug deaths are a daily tragedy as the crisis continues with 5.3 people dying every day on average in September 2025.

The number and rate of deaths in some of the hardest hit communities, however, dropped precipitously over the first three quarters of 2025.

There have been 1,384 unregulated drug deaths in the province from January to the end of September, according to the monthly reports from the BC Coroners Service. That means B.C. is on pace to see 1,845 deaths, which would be a 20 per cent decline from the 2,315 deaths in 2024, which itself was lower than 2023 (2,589), and 2022 (2,390).

B.C. has seen a rate of 32.3 unregulated drug deaths per 100,000 population in 2025, the lowest rate since before the pandemic in 2019.

Some medium-sized cities with higher than average rates of death saw a large drop in the numbers over the first nine months of the year. 

In hard numbers, extrapolating the number of deaths so far, Surrey is on pace to be down 20 per cent, Victoria 25 per cent, Kamloops 39 per cent, and Prince George 53 per cent.

Both Chilliwack and Abbosford are on pace to have an identical number of deaths in 2025 compared to 2024, at 37 in Chilliwack and 76 in Abbotsford.

Chilliwack’s rate of death per 100,000 is 35.3 while Abbotsford’s is approximately 41.

Unregulated drug death rates per 100,000 in 2024 compared to 2025

Surrey 36.1 to 28.1
Victoria 52.5 to 34.2
Kamloops 68.8 to 43.2
Nanaimo 74.1 to 60.4
Prince George 103.1 to 49.6

An example of how the toxic drug crisis affects different communities and different neighbourhoods is apparent in Vancouver where the Westside has a rate of 2.9 per 100,000 while Centre North (which includes the Downtown Eastside) is 308.1 per 100,000.

The municipality of Hope is so small as to be statistically not relevant, but so far there has been just one death in the community in 2025. That compares to nine deaths last year, 12 in 2023, and seven, eight and nine in 2020, 2022, and 2021 respectively.

Other numbers

Fentanyl and its analogues continue to be the most common substance detected in expedited toxicological testing. 

Decedents who underwent expedited testing in 2025 were found to have fentanyl or fentanyl analogues in their systems in 84 per cent of cases, followed by cocaine (52 per cent) and methamphetamine (51 per cent). 

Smoking is the most common mode of consumption (65 per cent), followed by nasal insufflation (11 per cent), injection (nine per cent), and oral (five per cent).

Almost half (48 per cent) of all deaths reported occurred in a private residence compared with 21 per cent outdoors.

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Paul J. Henderson
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