The Addiction Crisis in Victoria

Greater Victoria consistently ranks as the third hardest-hit community in British Columbia for toxic drug deaths, behind Vancouver and Surrey. In the first quarter of 2026, Island Health issued 10 overdose advisories across the Victoria region. In January 2026, approximately two people died every week in Greater Victoria. In 2024, Greater Victoria accounted for roughly 7% of all provincial drug toxicity deaths, with 136 deaths recorded in the first 10 months of that year. In January 2026, a 24-hour period saw 15 non-fatal overdoses in Victoria linked to medetomidine — a veterinary sedative increasingly found in the illicit supply that complicates naloxone effectiveness. Fentanyl remains the dominant substance, detected in roughly 78–85% of deaths province-wide, while benzodiazepines have grown from under 5% involvement in 2015 to nearly half of all drug-related deaths by 2025.

Canada recorded approximately 7,560 apparent opioid toxicity deaths in 2023 (PHAC), making British Columbia responsible for roughly one-third of the national total despite representing about 13% of the population. BC's per-capita death rate from toxic drugs is among the highest in the country. The national total declined in 2024, consistent with BC's own downward trend, though public health officials caution that the supply remains highly volatile and any gains are fragile. Fentanyl and its analogues drove the surge nationally beginning around 2016; the growing presence of benzodiazepines and novel sedatives in the unregulated supply is now a Canada-wide concern that complicates standard overdose response protocols.

01. What is happening in Victoria

02. A crisis that did not start this month

British Columbia declared the toxic drug crisis a public health emergency on April 14, 2016. Ten years later, more than 18,000 lives have been lost across the province. BC set a grim record in 2023 with 2,511 suspected illicit drug deaths — the highest annual toll ever recorded. In 2024, deaths declined 13% to 2,253, the lowest since 2020, though BC still averaged nearly five deaths per day. In January 2026, 150 British Columbians died — a 10% decrease from January 2025 (167), suggesting a continued but fragile downward trend. BC's three-year drug decriminalization pilot expired in January 2026 and was not renewed. Restrictions on the safer supply program were also tightened in early 2026. Fentanyl is detected in approximately 78% of deaths; benzodiazepines and stimulants are increasingly co-present. BCEHS receives the most overdose calls from Vancouver, Surrey, and Victoria.

03. Why is it getting worse?

The illicit drug supply in Victoria and across BC is overwhelmingly contaminated with fentanyl (detected in ~78–85% of deaths) and increasingly with benzodiazepines (involved in nearly half of all drug deaths by 2025, up from under 5% in 2015) and novel sedatives such as medetomidine. These adulterants make the street supply unpredictably lethal and reduce naloxone's effectiveness. Structural drivers include: inadequate access to treatment beds and harm reduction services, particularly outside urban cores; the end of BC's decriminalization pilot (January 2026) and tightening of safer supply programs, which may push users back toward the unregulated supply; socioeconomic marginalization, housing instability, and social isolation in Greater Victoria; and limited rural and after-hours service coverage. BC's 10-year emergency has also exposed the cumulative effects of long-term under-investment in mental health and addictions infrastructure.

04. Where hope still lives

Communities across British Columbia are responding with naloxone distribution, harm reduction programs, and peer support networks. Every person trained in naloxone use is a potential life saved.

05. In the news

The reporting behind this page:

• Things look bleak: Greater Victoria experts ponder future of drug crisisVictoria News · 2026-04-12
• B.C. nears 10-year anniversary of toxic drug crisisVictoria News · 2026-04-07
• Loved ones rally across B.C. to mark 10 years since toxic drug crisis was declared an emergencyCBC News · 2026-04-14
• B.C. sets grim record with 2,511 toxic drug deaths in 2023CBC News · 2024-01-25
• Drug deaths in B.C. dropped 13 per cent in 2024, hitting four-year lowVictoria Times Colonist · 2025-02-01
• Vancouver Island sees more overdose deaths as B.C. records uptick: coroners serviceVictoria Times Colonist · 2025-10-01