New data from the BC Coroners Service show a slightly higher number of drug deaths in the region compared to last year.
East Kootenay saw three lives lost to unregulated drug use in January – up from zero deaths in 2025.
Interior Health issued a drug poisoning alert in late January.
Medetomidine, a veterinary drug used to sedate animals, was detected in the province-wide opioid and down supply, contributing to a province-wide spike in overdose numbers that month.
Reports were particularly sustained in Nelson and Trail, the latter of which was described by health care workers as “the worst they have ever seen”.
The Kootenay Boundary health service delivery area saw the highest rate of deaths at 5.7 per cent.
There were a total of 15 deaths in East Kootenay in 2025.
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