Skip to content

Penticton on track to break fatal overdose record

The local health area has seen 15 fatal overdoses so far
26515019_web1_210113-PWN-DrugAlert_1
Paramedics and firefighters, along with police, help with an overdose last year in Penticton. (File photo)

Penticton is currently on track to have a record number of overdose deaths in 2021.

According to information from the BC Coroner’s Service, there were a total of 15 fatal overdoses in Penticton between January and June 2021. The death toll in the first six months of 2021 is close to the yearly average of 15.6 fatal overdoses in the Penticton local health area over the last five years.

Five of 2021’s deaths came within a single two-month period between May and June.

In 2016, the last year there were single-digit overdose fatalities in Penticton, seven people died due to drug toxicity.

READ MORE: 5 fatal overdoses in 2 months brings total to 15 deaths in Penticton this year

In 2017, there were 16 fatal overdoses, in 2018 there were another 16, while in 2019 there were 22 and 17 in 2020.

One aspect that may be involved in the increase in deaths is a growing trend of higher concentrations of fentanyl in the supply of drugs.

According to the B.C. Coroner’s Services, the number of cases across the province since April 2020 that have found extreme fentanyl concentrations has risen to 14 per cent of fatal overdoses, from eight per cent over Jan. 2019 to Mar. 2020.

As recently as March 2021, Interior Health had issued a drug alert for methamphetamines that had been found to be contaminated with fentanyl in Penticton.

Those are only the overdoses that result in deaths. From January to May of 2021, there were 279 overdose calls that required emergency responders to attend to the scene.

READ MORE: Penticton records most overdoses in the Okanagan on same day B.C. breaks daily overdose record

To report a typo, email: editor@pentictonwesternnews.com.

<>

@PentictonNews
newstips@pentictonwesternnews.com

Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.



Brennan Phillips

About the Author: Brennan Phillips

Brennan was raised in the Okanagan and is thankful every day that he gets to live and work in one of the most beautiful places in Canada.
Read more