Victoria, April 7 – The BC Coroners Service has released figures about the number of deaths due to toxic drugs in February. According to the BC Coroners Service, at least 177 people in British Columbia were lost to toxic and unregulated drugs in February. The coroners service said the total number of lives lost reflects an 11 per cent decrease from the number investigated by it in February last year, and a 12 per cent dip from the number reported in January 2024. The agency said February, however, is also the 20th consecutive month in which there have been at least 175 deaths suspected to be caused by the toxic-drug supply. According to information, an average of 6.1 lives were lost per day in February 2024. “The provincewide rate of death for the first two months of 2024 is 40.1 per 100,000 residents, which is below the record numbers reported in 2023 but still nearly twice the rate recorded in 2016, the year the public-health emergency was first declared,” the coroners service “Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death in B.C. for persons aged 10 to 59, accounting for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents and natural disease combined,” it said. Since April 2016 when public-health emergency was declared, at least 14,208 people in the province lost their lives to unregulated drugs.