Photo: Colin Dacre

An overdose prevention site in Kelowna

Twenty-one people died of drug overdose in the B.C. Southern Interior in January, with Kelowna seeing the largest share of death.

Seven people were killed by toxic drugs in Kelowna, four in Kamloops and two in Vernon, according to new data from the BC Coroners Service.

No deaths were reported in Penticton or the Kootenay region. Across B.C., 152 people died.

“Though January marks the fourth consecutive month in which the number of deaths reported to the BC Coroners Service attributed to unregulated drug toxicity was below 160, certain areas of the province saw an increase,” said the BC Coroners Service in a news release.

“That includes communities within Fraser Health and Interior Health.”

The coroner's service says half of those who died in January in B.C. were between the ages of 40 and 59, while three were children or youth under the age of 18.

The powerful opioid fentanyl and its analogues were found in 77 per cent of tests on those who died, followed by methamphetamine, while 46 per cent of those who died had bromazolam in their system, a benzodiazepine that reduces the effectiveness of overdose-reversing drugs.

There have recently been declines in drug deaths across North America, with Health Canada reporting a 12 per cent decline from January to September 2024, compared to the same period in 2023.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control says reported U.S. drug deaths in October 2024 were down more than 25 per cent, year on year.

with files from The Canadian Press