B.C. records highest overdose death toll for one month in May

British Columbia has recorded the highest number of illicit drug overdose deaths in a single month, reaching the grim milestone in May.

The coroners service says 170 people died in May, compared with 76 deaths in February as concentrations of the deadly opioid fentanyl have increased.

It says in a report that the number of deaths in May were 93 per cent higher than a year earlier.

The previous high was 161 deaths in December 2016.

Fentanyl-related fatalities spiked after the province allowed a safer supply of drugs to be prescribed in April amid concerns about the sale of more toxic illegal substances during the COVID-19 pandemic.

New provincial guidelines mean doctors can prescribe substitute medications including hydromorphone for users of opioids but advocates have said greater access to pharmaceutical-grade heroin is needed.

Nearly 4,500 people have fatally overdosed on fentanyl in B.C. since 2016, when the province declared a public heath emergency.