June marked the highest number of unregulated drug deaths in Victoria over the past year, but overall trends continue to show deaths declining across the province.
The BC Coroners Service has released its unregulated drug toxicity data for May and June 2025.
The data shows 145 people in May and 147 in June died in B.C. due to unregulated drug toxicity.
Greater Victoria is among the regions experiencing the highest number of unregulated drug deaths in 2025 so far, behind Vancouver and Surrey.
However, there is a continuing trend of lower death rates year over year throughout the province. Each month of 2025 has shown the lowest number of deaths since 2021, other than April 2025, which surpassed April 2022 by two deaths.
In June, Victoria saw 15 deaths due to unregulated drugs – the first double-digit total since February 2025. The 15 deaths mark the worst month for Greater Victoria since September 2024, but fall below the previous yearly high of 18 deaths in May 2024.
Despite the high death toll in June, May recorded the lowest total in the past year, with six. Vancouver Island recorded 163 deaths during the first six months of the year, the second fewest among health authorities. Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities have witnessed the largest number of deaths this year at 269 and 238, respectively.
Provincewide, those between the ages of 20 and 59 accounted for 69 per cent of drug toxicity deaths. Seventy-eight per cent of those who died were male. The average rate of deaths per day throughout the province in May and June was 4.7 and 4.9, respectively.
Fentanyl remains the most common substance detected in toxicology testing.
"Decedents who underwent expedited testing in 2025 were found to have fentanyl in their systems (70 per cent), followed by methamphetamine (52 per cent) and cocaine (51 per cent). The number of deaths where carfentanil was detected has increased in recent months," the B.C. Coroners Service report said.
