Five more people died in the Kootenay-Boundary in September due to toxic drug use, according to the BC Coroners Service.
Statistics released today show three deaths in the West Kootenay-Boundary and two in the East Kootenay. That after no deaths were recorded in either region in August.
Year-to-date, there have been 25 deaths in the West Kootenay-Boundary and 11 in the East Kootenay. The West Kootenay-Boundary’s per-capita rate of 37.8 deaths per 100,000 people is the fifth highest among BC’s 16 health subregions.
Across the province, there were 133 drug-related deaths in September, bringing the total for 2026 to 1,143. The province is on track for the fewest number of deaths in a year since 2019, when there were 992. Since 2015, close to 20,000 people have died across BC.
The coroners service says 70 per cent of those who have died this year were ages 30 to 59 and 76 per cent were male.
The most common substances detected in toxicology testing are flurofentanyl (68 per cent), cocaine (55 per cent), meth (53 per cent), and fentanyl (50 per cent). Flurofentanyl only became more common than fentanyl this year.
