Prince George records five illicit drug deaths in April

Northern Health tallied 18 more illicit drug deaths in April according to data released by the BC Coroners Service today (Tuesday)

Five of those fatalities occurred in Prince George.

Province-wide, 165 people lost their lives due to toxic drugs – that equates to about 5.5 deaths per day on average.

April marks a return to more than 160 deaths attributed to unregulated drug toxicity after six consecutive months of reporting fewer than that threshold.

So far this year, Northern Health has tallied 46 toxic drug deaths, 14 of which were recorded in Prince George.

Through the first four months of 2025, 68% of those who died were between the ages of 30 to 59 – 77% were male.

Northern Health continues to have the highest death rate among all health authorities with a mark of 45.7 – the next highest is Interior Health at 35.2.

By health authority in 2025, the highest number of unregulated drug deaths were in Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities (185 and 155 deaths, respectively) making up 57% of all fatalities.

In terms of Health Service Delivery Area, the Northern Interior, which includes PG-Quesnel-Burns Lake and the Robson Valley has the third-highest drug toxicity death rate of 45.0 – Northwest (53.8) and Vancouver (49.6) rated higher

Unregulated drug toxicity is the leading cause of death for people in British Columbia between the ages of 10 and 59, and accounts for more deaths than homicides, suicides, accidents, and natural disease combined.

Throughout the first four months of 2025, toxic drugs have claimed the lives of 594 people in BC – last year, the final tally was 2,287.