Photo courtesy Canadian Press

By Canadian Press

Overdose deaths

175 fatal overdose deaths in July

Aug 25, 2020 | 11:34 AM

VICTORIA — Chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says 175 people fatally overdosed in British Columbia last month — up 136 per cent from the same month last year.
Lapointe says access to harm-reduction services such as a safer supply of drugs remains a challenge in the province, which declared a provincial health emergency due to the issue in 2016.
It is still in effect.
Lapointe says pandemic-related border closures have disrupted the supply of drugs and led to the trafficking of substances with extreme concentrations of illicit fentanyl.