Valley passes grim benchmark

More deaths have now been reported in the Okanagan from illicit drug overdose this year than in all of 2019.

From January through September, there were 84 overdose deaths in the Valley, compared to 83 last year.

However, the 2020 year-end totals look likely to be well below the peak number of 155 overdose deaths in the Okanagan that was experienced in 2017.

Of the 84 overdose deaths from January through September in the Okanagan, 38 occurred in Kelowna, according to figures released Tuesday by the B.C. Coroners Service.

In Penticton, there were 46 illicit drug overdose deaths between January 2018 and September 2020. The death rate is similar to that recorded in the years 2016 through 2018, but more than three times higher than the level seen between 2014 and 2016.

So far this year, 54 per cent of illicit drug overdose deaths have occurred inside private residences and 28 per cent have been in social or supportive housing units.

Fifteen per cent of such deaths have occurred in vehicles, parks, or on sidewalks and streets, the Corners service says.

Across B.C., 127 people died of illicit drug overdoses last month, compared to 60 in September 2019. An average of four people died every day last month, but the number declined from 150 in August and is lower than the record monthly number of 183 in June. Fatal overdoses began rising in B.C. about the time of the onset of the COVID19 pandemic in March.