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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.

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
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:

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

  1. June 21, 2023: 221
  2. June 23, 2023 210
  3. June 22, 2023: 209 
  4. March 22, 2023: 205
  5. 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
Tab Heading
SOURCE: Overdose & Drug Poisoning Data ( )
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