Overdose & Drug Poisoning Data

BC Emergency Health Services is consistently monitoring the potential overdose/poisoning call volumes across the province and reporting out on the data.

Overdose call volumes

The yearly total reflects the number of overdose/poisoning calls paramedics have responded to in each community. Here are the top communities within the province, with the number of calls for 2022.

To see the number of calls broken down by year, from 2016 to 2022, see Overdose Response in B.C. Communities (PDF).

100 Mile House: 30
Abbotsford: 1,641
Agassiz: 34
Armstrong: 13
Burnaby: 641
Burns Lake: 28
Campbell River: 525
Castlegar: 44
Central Saanich: 33
Chase: 7
Chemainus: 19
Chilliwack: 715
Cobble Hill: 13
Coldstream: 18
Colwood: 60
Comox: 30
Coquitlam: 469
Courtenay: 419
Cranbrook: 171
Creston: 27
Cumberland: 9
Dawson Creek: 135
Delta: 195
Duncan: 507
Enderby: 21
Esquimalt: 48
Fort Nelson: 25
Fort St James: 42
Fort St John: 137
Gibsons: 43
Golden: 15
Grand Forks: 45
Hope: 55
Houston: 28
Kamloops: 1,285
Kelowna: 1,824
Keremeos: 11
Kimberley: 17
Kitimat: 35
Ladysmith: 28
Lake Country: 22
Lake Cowichan: 23
Langford: 163
Langley: 735
Lantzville: 14
Lillooet: 8
Lumby: 7
Mackenzie: 16
Maple Ridge: 791
Merritt: 64
Mission: 456
Nanaimo: 1,059
Nelson: 108
New Westminster: 529
North Saanich: 27
North Vancouver: 259
Oak Bay: 23
Oliver: 37
Osoyoos: 24
Parksville: 115
Peachland: 8
Penticton: 661
Pitt Meadows: 60
Port Alberni: 375
Port Coquitlam: 186
Port Hardy: 27
Port Moody: 56
Powell River: 195
Prince George: 1,466
Prince Rupert: 81
Princeton: 16
Qualicum Beach: 24
Quesnel: 160
Revelstoke: 12
Richmond: 356
Saanich: 329
Salmon Arm: 91
Salt Spring Island: 16
Sechelt: 142
Shawnigan Lake: 20
Sidney: 16
Smithers: 59
Sooke: 75
Squamish: 86
Summerland: 38
Surrey: 2,864
Terrace: 357
Thornhill: 22
Tofino: 27
Trail: 90
Vancouver: 7,827
Vanderhoof: 12
Vernon: 513
Victoria: 2,037
View Royal: 48
West Kelowna: 213
West Vancouver: 65
Whistler: 34
White Rock: 55
Williams Lake: 162
Other communities: 851

2022 overdose numbers

Key findings in BCEHS 2022 overdose/poisoning call data

(Data are subject to change as they may be updated following reviews)

Since the drug toxicity public health emergency was declared in 2016, BCEHS has seen a 75% total increase in annual overdose/poisoning events.

In 2022, BCEHS paramedics responded to more than 33,500 overdose/poisoning calls. The total number of responses to overdoses/poisonings (33,654) represented a decrease of 5% from the previous year. The average monthly calls for overdose/poisoning are more than 2,800 per month, and the average daily calls are more than 92 a day.

BCEHS experienced two months with more than 3,000 overdose/poisoning calls in 2022, and on Jan. 19, 2022, a new daily record was set with BCEHS receiving 203 overdose/poisoning calls that day.

Overdose/poisoning calls in B.C.

2022: 33,654 (down 5% compared with last year)
2021: 35,585 (up 31% over the previous year)
2020: 27,068 (up 12% over the previous year)
2019: 24,166 (up 2% over the previous year)
2018: 23,662 (up 1% over the previous year)
2017: 23,441 (up 22% over the previous year
2016: 19,275 (up 57% over the previous year)
2015: 12,263
2004-2015: Prior to 2016, overdose/poisoning calls in B.C. fluctuated from 10,000 to 15,000 calls a year.

Overdose/poisoning calls by health authority region in 2022

Vancouver Coastal Health and Fraser Health regions (which together represent about 50% of B.C.’s population) continue to report the highest number of overdose/poisoning calls .

Despite a 5% drop in total overdose calls received by BCEHS provincially, three health authorities had an increase in overdose/poisoning calls in 2022:

Northern Health had the largest increase (+17%)
Interior Health (+9%) and Island Health (+6%) also reported increases

Two health authorities had a decrease in overdose/poisoning calls in 2022:

Vancouver Coastal Health had the largest decrease (-19%)
Fraser Health (-10%) also reported a decrease

Here is the breakdown of overdose calls in each health authority:

Vancouver Coastal: 9,071 (-19%)
Fraser Health: 9,537 (-10%)
Island Health: 6,277 (+6%)
Interior Health: 5, 931 (+9%)
Northern Health: 2,838 (+17%)

Here is the breakdown across the last seven years:

Vancouver Coastal:

2022: 9,071
2021: 11,204
2020: 9,041
2019: 9,407
2018: 8,686
2017: 8,697
2016: 6,714

Fraser Health:

2022: 9,537
2021: 10,573
2020: 7,272
2019: 6,478
2018: 6,513
2017: 6,554
2016: 5,927

Island Health:

2022: 6,277
2021: 5,917
2020: 4,446
2019: 3,852
2018: 4,102
2017: 3,821
2016: 3,122

Interior Health:

2022: 5,931
2021: 5,417
2020: 4,211
2019: 3,097
2018: 3,129
2017: 3,284
2016: 2,599

Northern Health:

2022: 2,838
2021: 2,414
2020: 2,077
2019: 1,332
2018: 1,232
2017: 1,085
2016: 913

British Columbia:

2022: 33,654
2021: 35,585
2020: 27,067
2019: 24,116
2018: 23,662
2017: 23,441
2016: 19,275

Top 5 communities for overdose/poisoning calls

BCEHS receives the most calls for overdoses from our largest metro centres: Vancouver, Surrey and Victoria.

The top 5 communities for overdose/poisoning calls in 2022 are below, with the percentage increase over 2021:

Vancouver: 7,827 (-22%)
Surrey: 2,864 (-22%)
Victoria: 2,037 (+4%)
Kelowna: 1,824 (+15%)
Abbotsford: 1,641 (+20%)

Highest call volume days

On January 19, 2022, BCEHS recorded 203 calls for overdose/poisonings, the highest call volume day so far and the first over 200 to date.

BCEHS paramedics responded to an average of 92 overdose calls per day in B.C. during 2022, down from 97 in 2021.

Highest call volume months

In July 2021, paramedics in B.C. responded to the highest number of overdoses ever recorded in a single month: 3,606 overdose calls.

The summer of 2021 recorded the highest number of overdose calls, with June, July, August, and September each recording more than 3,000 overdoses in each month. The average monthly call volume, prior to the pandemic, had been about 2,000 overdose calls a month.

Trends

Based on preliminary data in 2023 for Card 23 (overdose/poisoning events), the following observations can be made. Note, the data reflects the number of overdose/poisoning calls paramedics have responded to in each health authority and provincewide.

On June 21, 2023, a new daily record was set with BCEHS receiving 221 overdose/poisoning (Card 23) calls for the day. It was an income assistance payment day.
The previous high was set earlier this year, on March 22, 2023, with BCEHS receiving 205 overdose/poisoning calls that day (also income assistance payment day).
In 2022, BCEHS experienced two months with more than 3,000 overdose/poisoning calls for the year, including the first single-day total over 200 on Jan. 19, 2022 (203 calls).
In total, there have been 44 days when BCEHS experienced 150 or more calls for Card 23 events – 20 have been in 2023.
Through the first five months of 2023, the average daily calls per day is over 100 for the first time ever.

Historic highest call volume days

On June 21, 2023, BCEHS recorded 221 calls for overdose/poisonings, the highest call volume day so far and the fifth over 200 to date.

Total Card 23 (overdose/poisoning) calls

June 21, 2023: 221
June 23, 2023 210
June 22, 2023: 209
March 22, 2023: 205
Jan. 19, 2022: 203

Historic average calls/day by month since 2000

Through the first five months of 2023, the average daily calls per day is over 100 for the first time ever, with a new daily call average high set in April at 120 calls/day.
Since January 2020, there has been a steady increase in year over year averages of daily calls by month:

In January 2020, BCEHS averaged 59.3 Card 23 calls per day. By contrast, those totals were much higher in the previous three January averages:

January 2021 (76.2)
January 2022 (98.2)
January 2023 (97.9)

2023 - Average calls/day by month

January: 97.9
February: 103.8
March: 118.4
April: 120.0
May: 115.9

2022 - Average calls/day by month

January: 98.2
February: 97.3
March: 96.2
April: 99.6
May: 98.2
June: 94.3
July: 90.4
August: 89.6
September: 88.3
October: 84.7
November: 85.3
December: 84.8

2021 - Average calls/day by month

January: 76.2
February: 81.9
March: 81.8
April: 91.9
May: 96.0
June: 100.6
July: 116.3
August: 112.6
September: 106.9
October: 105.0
November: 103.5
December: 95.8

2020 - Average calls/day by month

January: 59.3
February: 59.2
March: 63.1
April: 71.9
May: 74.9
June: 79.0
July: 87.3
August: 76.5
September: 81.0
October: 83.3
November: 76.7
December: 74.9

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