It might be a tall order on paper, but Dr. Jatinder Baidwan could have the remedy to finally put a meaningful dent into BC’s toxic drug crisis that is going into its ninth year.
Baidwan was appointed to the role replacing Lisa Lapointe who elected to retire in February 2024.
However, this is not his first foray with the Coroner’s Service as he previously held the role of chief medical officer in 2017 – leading the investigations of the 2021 heat dome deaths as well as the spiked fatality numbers related to COVID-19.
During an exclusive interview with Vista Radio, Baidwan will adopt a data-based approach in tackling the province’s toxic drug crisis, which will better inform policy makers in their future decisions to help prevent deaths going forward.
“The projections you want to put forward in terms of when you change policy and how you change the operational way that you are dealing with it on the ground all has to be based on good, solid data. I am a person that is interested in collecting the best data that we can from the death investigations that we are doing and reflecting that back to the policy makers that are in charge with actually changing how we tackle this crisis.”
“We are going to be working with them to give them the kind of data that they require to make informed choices and decisions. I will also be working with them to look at some of the results of the decisions of the policy decisions they make downstream to see if some of these policies are effective or not,” added Baidwan.
The year-end numbers haven’t been tallied yet, but 2024 was another record-breaking year for all the wrong reasons in Prince George in relation to the toxic drug crisis.
As of the end of October, the northern capital recorded 99 overdose fatalities, smashing the previous record-high of 92 back in 2023.
Dr. Baidwan noted a troubling trend that is most prevalent in the Prince George area.
“It’s tragic and we don’t seem to be making a dent in the numbers. Further to the numbers you know about there are more women that are dying in that area than any other area as a proportion.”
“I don’t think it has crept up suddenly. I think there has always been that slightly greater number in the Northern Interior region. Do I know the answer to the questions you are asking? No. But these are the questions the policy makers in health need to delve into. There is a huge amount of data that they have in health that they can look at. We only look at the death data and there is a lot of data where people don’t succumb to potential overdoses.”
In October, the BC Coroners Service reported 155 suspected unregulated drug deaths – equating to about five per day on average.
This represented the lowest number of deaths from drug toxicity since September 2020 in BC, but the risk of harm and death remains high.
Through October, 1,925 people died from unregulated drug toxicity in 2024, a nine per cent decrease when compared with the first ten months of 2023. (2,107 deaths.).
As for how to fix the issue, whether it’s through safe supply or treatment-based, Dr. Baidwan believes both sides need to be put into the same room and figure it out..
“They need to have a conversation about the way forward. The answers to these things often lie in both camps. They seldom lie on the extreme sides on one camp or the other. We have to get better at understanding, what each side means when having these conversations.”
With the divisive political climate that exists, it is easy for politicians to kick this issue around like a political football.
“Unfortunately, politics in this day in age is about blaming the other side as it were. Any crisis that generates numbers like this one causes the football to be kicked back and forth. I don’t know if it’s helpful for me to offer my opinion on if decriminalization is useful or not useful, all I can tell you is the Coroners Service will provide great data like we have always done.” added Baidwan.
In addition to his responsibilities with the Coroners Service, Dr. Baidwan works six weeks out of the year as a physician in Valemount.
The next set of overdose numbers will be released in the first week of February.
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