The latest data from the B-C Coroners Service reveals some headway in the battle to cut the number of illicit drug deaths in the province.
Numbers show 73 people died from illicit drug overdoses in June — a 15 per cent dip from the 86 deaths recorded in May and a 35 per cent decline from the 113 that occurred across B-C in June of last year.
The coroner says fentanyl — the ultra-powerful opioid linked to the overdose crisis — continues to be detected in many of the deaths, with the substance identified in four of every five illicit drug toxicity deaths in both 2018 and 2019.
However data shows the number of B-C deaths linked to carfentanil — an opioid that is 100 times stronger than fentanyl and thousands of times more potent than heroin — fell to four in June, down from 13 in May and far below the high of 32 recorded in March.
