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Nov 26, 2020 2:20 AM -

162 more overdose related deaths reported for the month of October in B.C.

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The BC Coroners Service says the number of overdose deaths in each health authority is at or near the highest monthly total ever recorded.

Chief coroner Lisa Lapoint says there were 162 overdose deaths in BC last month, more than double the 75 recorded in October last year.

Lapoint says the COVID-19 pandemic continues to affect the supply of street drugs and is urging doctors and nurses to prescribe safer pharmaceutical alternatives.

But advocates for drug users say medical personnel still are not prescribing those alternatives to the extent they should be.

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