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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 by community
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.
 
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SOURCE: Overdose & Drug Poisoning Data ( )
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