Illicit drug overdose toll down in March, but still a record-breaking number of deaths so far in 2022

A report from British Columbia's coroner service shows that despite a slightly lower death toll in March, 2022 is still shaping up to be the deadliest year in the province's overdose crisis.

A report from British Columbia's coroner service shows that despite a slightly lower death toll in March, 2022 is still shaping up to be the deadliest year in the province's overdose crisis.

Data released Tuesday included that 165 people died of suspected illicit drug toxicity. It's a five per cent decrease from the month before, and from March 2021.

Still, it's the second-highest number of deaths ever recorded for that month, and it represents 5.3 people every day.

Another encouraging trend noted by the coroners service is that the detection rate of benzodiazepines was down 32 per cent in March.

"Benzos" have been increasingly noted in the street supply in B.C., something that is concerning when taking into account that these drugs can block the effects of the overdose antidote naloxone.

A user who's unknowingly taken something that contains benzos may not respond to life-saving efforts involving naloxone, which is used by first responders to revive someone who's overdosed.

Its presence is concerning as it rapidly increased between July 2020, when it was found in 15 per cent of samples, and January 2022, when it was found in 52 per cent.