Late August spike in drug overdoses in much of B.C. – CTV
September 03, 2025
As health authorities warned they were observing a surge in drug poisonings across the Lower Mainland, B.C. Emergency Health Services saw 911 calls for overdoses spike 50 per cent for the last week of August compared to the week before.
The B.C. Coroners Service tells CTV News there does not appear to have been a correlating rise in suspected drug toxicity deaths in that time, but the overall trend has been creeping up again after decreasing for months.
“It does seem that drug poisonings are again increasing in British Columbia, particularly non-fatal events increasing over the summer with a substantial spike last week,” said Dr. Alexis Crabtree, the public health physician for harm reduction and substance use services at the B.C. Centre for Disease Control.
To contextualize the surge, she said the late August numbers are 28 per cent higher than the last week of July, and 16 per cent higher than August 2024. BCEHS paramedics responded to a total of 1,203 overdose calls in the last week of August, compared to 785 the week prior.
“Any time we see a rapid change in the number of drug poisoning events, I think that often means that there’s been some sort of a change in the drug supply,” Crabtree said, pointing out that the illicit supply is unpredictable and ever-changing.
Read more: https://www.ctvnews.ca/vancouver/article/late-august-spike-in-drug-overdoses-in-much-of-bc/
