BC Emergency Health Services responded to a total of 871 drug overdose calls in the Langleys in 2024.
Since the public health emergency for toxic drugs was declared in 2016, BCEHS has seen a 110 per cent total increase in annual overdose/poisoning events.
Langley has experienced that jump as well. Langley had 468 in 2016; 531 the next year; 454 in 2017; 500 in 2018; and 593 the next year. Then in 2021, numbers jumped to 770. The 2022 figure was 735, with 718 the next year, and 871 in 2024.
The total BC EHS call-outs for all types of cases was 15,389 in 2023 for Langley, of which 718 were for overdoses or drug poisonings.
In 2024, paramedics responded to a total of 40,543 overdose/poisoning patient events for the year, an average of 111 calls a day.
The total number of responses to overdoses/poisonings (40,543) represented a decrease of four per cent from the previous year. The average monthly calls are more than 3,300 per month. BCEHS experienced 10 months with more than 3,000 overdose/poisoning calls in 2024.
Fraser Health, the health authority that includes Langley City and Township, had a three per cent increase in overdose/poisoning callouts, or 10,538 calls. That compares with 10,254 in 2023.
