New data from the B.C. Coroners Service shows 14 people in the Northern Health region died from unregulated drugs in January.
Three of the deaths were in the northwest, equal to about four deaths per 100,000 people.
The numbers are up from a year earlier, when the health authority recorded 11 deaths, including two in the northwest.
While Northern Health recorded the fewest deaths of any health authority that month, it had the highest death rate per 100,000 people at almost 58.
Across B.C., 150 people died from unregulated drugs in January 2026 — a 10 per cent decrease from the same month a year earlier, when 167 deaths were recorded.
The province said about three-quarters of those who died that month were between the ages of 30 and 59, and 80 per cent were male.
About eight in 10 toxicology tests detected fentanyl or its analogues.
A full summary can be found here.
With files from Logan Flint (Vista Radio Staff)
