Image: Canadian Press
Unregulated drug deaths in Chilliwack

Over two dozen drug deaths reported in Chilliwack in 2025: BC Coroners Service

Nov 3, 2025 | 9:50 AM

CHILLIWACK — The BC Coroners Service says unregulated toxic drugs have claimed the lives of more than two dozen people in Chilliwack in 2025.

In a statement released Monday, the provincial agency says 28 people have died in Chilliwack this year due to unregulated drug toxicity.

Across the Fraser Valley, the situation was just as bleak. Abbotsford saw 57 people die due to unregulated drug toxicity, while 36 people perished in Langley.

According to preliminary data, 158 people died in September 2025 due to unregulated drug toxicity, as reported by the BC Coroners Service.

In 2025, deaths among those between the ages of 30 and 59 accounted for 69 per cent of drug-toxicity deaths in the province, and 78% were male.

By health authority, in 2025, the highest number of unregulated drug deaths were in Fraser and Vancouver Coastal health authorities (406 and 366 deaths, respectively) making up 56 per cent of all such deaths. Throughout 2025, the cities experiencing the highest number of unregulated drug deaths have been Vancouver (314), Surrey (137) and Greater Victoria (93).

Fentanyl and its analogues continue to be the most common substance detected in expedited toxicological testing, the coroners service said. Decedents who underwent expedited testing in 2025 were found to have fentanyl or fentanyl analogues in their systems (84 per cent), followed by cocaine (52 per cent) and methamphetamine (51 per cent). Smoking is the most common mode of consumption (65 per cent), followed by nasal insufflation (11 per cent), injection (nine per cent), and oral (five per cent).