OTTAWA, June 6 (Xinhua) -- Canada's British Columbia provincial government said on Thursday that unregulated toxic drugs claimed the lives of 182 people in the province in April this year and more than 14,500 in eight years.
According to preliminary data from the British Columbia Coroners Service, April's figure represented a 24 percent decrease from the number of deaths in April 2023, but the risk posed by unregulated drug supply remains very high.
April 2024 marked eight years since the public-health emergency was first declared. At least 14,582 people in the province have lost their lives to toxic drugs in that time, including 763 in the first four months of 2024, the office of Public Safety and Solicitor General said in a press release.
Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death for people in British Columbia age 10 to 59, and accounts for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined, the release said.
Nearly 50 percent of decedents in April were between the age of 30 and 49 and seven in ten were males. Toxic drugs continue to claim the lives of about six people in British Columbia per day, according to the release.
In April, British Columbia called off a drug decriminalization pilot project which allowed drug users to carry small amounts of drugs. The pilot program was introduced in January 2023 allowing adult drug users in the province to carry up to 2.5 grams of drugs for personal use without facing criminal charges.
