Interior Health has joined several B.C. communities in issuing a drug poisoning alert amid growing overdose numbers in the province.
The agency says it reissued the warning for Trail and Nelson due to sustained overdose reports in the area.
Karin Goodison, medical health officer with Interior Health, told Canadian Press that she received reports from front-line workers over the weekend that about 20 people were being found unconscious each night in Trail, “lying out in the cold in the street,” and suffering memory loss due to overdoses.
She added that front-line workers describe the situation as the worst they have ever seen.
The B.C. Centre for Disease Control sent out a province-wide drug alert on Monday (Jan. 26), saying opioids and down now often contain medetomidine – a drug used by veterinarians to sedate animals.
Detections of medetomidine in opioid samples jumped from 99 (33%) in October 2025 to 136 (45%) in November, according to the BC Centre on Substance Use.
The drug often causes sedation, confusion and disorientation, with some reports of individuals having unexplained injuries, sudden collapses and prolonged impairment.
More information on the region’s drug supply is available online through Interior Health’s website.
-With files from Canadian Press
Comments