Health posted Jun 29, 2025 @ 03:15pm by Josh Duncan

Kamloops on pace for fewest drug overdose deaths in a year since before pandemic

Recently-published data from the BC Coroners Service shows that there were 16 deaths from unregulated toxic drugs in Kamloops through the first four months of 2025.

While any amount of deaths can be considered too many, the statistics for Kamloops mark a stark improvement on the numbers over the past five years.

Kamloops is on pace for 48 deaths in 2025, which would be the city’s lowest number of toxic drug deaths in a year since before the COVID-19 pandemic.

<who>Photo Credit: Interior Health

There were only 25 overdose deaths from unregulated drugs in Kamloops in 2019, which is the lowest yearly total by double digits in the past decade.

Here’s how those totals break down by year for Kamloops since British Columbia’s toxic drug crisis officially became a public health emergency in April 2016:

2025 - 16 (Jan. through Apr. only)
2024 - 91
2023 - 86
2022 - 93
2021 - 76
2020 - 60
2019 - 25
2018 - 47
2017 - 37
2016 - 44
(There were seven deaths in both 2014 and 2015)

Looking at the situation provincially, the BC Coroners Service reports that 165 people died from illicit drug overdoses in April.

That’s the highest total since September 2024, ending a six-month streak of less than 160 deaths per month.

Between July 2022 and September 2024, British Columbia reported over 190 deaths from unregulated toxic drugs every month, with the peak being 240 fatalities in April 2023.

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