Northern Health nearly doubles fentanyl-detected deaths this year compared to 2019 Photo of BC Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe: BC Gov Flickr SHARE ON: November was another tragic month in regards to the illicit drug crisis in BC with an average of over five deaths per day. According to the BC Coroners Service, 153 suspected drug toxicity deaths occurred last month, that’s an 89% increase when compared to the same month last year (81), and a 7% decrease over the number of deaths from October of this year(164). 77% of deaths in November saw some level of fentanyl detected. In addition, Northern Health has recorded 93 fentanyl-detected deaths so far this year, almost doubling last year’s mark of 53.