Fentanyl deaths continue to mount, exceeding all previous years.
89 people have died in the Island Health district in the first 5 months of this year – only 34 fewer than for all of 2016.
20 people have died in Nanaimo from fentanyl overdoses, and though Island Health does not release statistics for towns where fewer than 10 people have died, sources have indicated approximately 5 people died from fentanyl in the Alberni Valley in that time period.
Provincially, 525 illicit drug overdose deaths with fentanyl were detected from January to the end of May – a 109% increase over the 251 deaths in the same period last year.
