Despite drug overdose deaths remaining steady within the first six months of the year, B.C. has yet to see any drastic reprieve with more than 100 deaths each month.

In June, 105 people died of an overdose, according to the latest stats released by the BC Coroners Service Thursday. That鈥檚 a 15 per cent decrease compared to the number of lives claimed in the same time period in 2017.

In the first six months of the year, 742 people have died, compared to 816 by June last year.

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The Lower Mainland continues to see the brunt of deaths, with the Fraser and Vancouver Coastal Health Authority making up 61 per cent of all deaths so far this year.

Meanwhile, rates of of deaths compared to population remain highest in the Cariboo, Thompson River, Okanagan and North.

There have been no deaths in safe consumption or overdose prevention sites. As of May, there were 46 overdose prevention sites stationed across B.C.

Illicit fentanyl continues to be the top drug found through toxicology reports, at 75 per cent, followed by cocaine (48 per cent) and methamphetamine (31 per cent).

ashley.wadhwani@bpdigital.ca
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