First thing to know: Text the word “Join” to 253787 and get yourself signed up for regional toxic drug alerts. Even if you are a person who would never consider buying unregulated drugs, signing up for those alerts brings home the level of risk that the unregulated drug supply has created since the drug stream began to change significantly around 2012.
People living homeless make up just 12 per cent of toxic drug deaths. But they account for a mere 0.5 per cent of the population. That makes them 24 times more likely to die in the drug crisis than a housed person. Many of the ways that homelessness is “enforced” put people at higher risk of death, forcing them into more isolated situations and away from their chosen community. Winter is the worst time: Between Dec. 1, 2025 and Jan. 15, 2026, nine people died on Pandora Avenue alone in Victoria.
The deaths are relentless at five or more a day in our province now – day after day after day, for years now. Unregulated drugs are now the leading cause of unnatural death in BC in every age category from 10 to 60. Drug-checking at sites such as the University of Victoria’s Substance is confirming the unregulated supply as an ever-changing chemical soup, unpredictable in its potency and its ingredients.
April 16, 2026 marks the 10th year since the provincial government declared a state of emergency over toxic drugs. As of the end of 2025, at least 18,000 will have died from toxic drugs in BC since that declaration was declared. Another 200,000+ people will have experienced a near-fatal overdose. Some will have incurred a brain injury due to a lack of oxygen to the brain during the overdose.
The opioid drug stream is the most dangerous. Referred to as “down,” that stream was once dominated by heroin, and then by prescription opioids such as oxycontin and oxycodone. The anesthetic fentanyl began showing up in this stream around 2012, and is responsible for 80 per cent of deaths. It’s an extremely powerful substance even in tiny amounts, and the difference between “enough” and “overdose” is paper thin.
Since the pandemic, the fentanyl-heavy unregulated opioid stream has become ever stranger. Here’s an example of the December 1-7, 2025 drug-checking report from Substance as an example. Links for more information at the bottom of the page.
Down/Opioids, 57 samples
- 0 samples contained fentanyl at a median concentration of 15%
- 10 samples contained fluorofentanyl at a median concentration of 6%
- 4 samples contained medetomidine at a median concentration of 0.6%
- 3 samples contained xylzaine at concentrations of 0.6%, 2%, and 11%
- 2 samples contained carfentanil at concentrations of 0.06% and 1%
- 17/57 down samples contained a benzo
- 9 samples contained bromazolam at a median concentration of 3%
- 4 samples contained desalkylgidazepam at a median concentration of 0.9%
- 3 samples contained an unknown benzo
- 2 samples contained ethylbromazolam at concentrations of 0.6% and 8%
- 1 sample contained etizolam at a concentration of 27%
- 1 sample contained flubromazepam at a concentration of 2%
Over the past four weeks:
- 121 samples contained fentanyl at a median concentration of 10%
- 61 samples contained fluorofentanyl at a median concentration of 4%
- 31 samples contained bromazolam at a median concentration of 3%
Drug death dashboard (BC Centre for Disease Control)
Canadian Drug Policy Coalition
Peers Victoria 2025 Toxic Drug Crisis speaker series – videos