On the day he sold his pickup truck, Jeff Bourne looked at the passenger seat and counted all the people who once rode with him that are no longer living.
He stopped after 30.
Bourne, who runs the peer support group U-Turn Addiction Recovery in Carbonear, N.L., has been losing more friends lately than ever before.
“They’re not bad people. They’re just sick people that’s trying to get well.”
At least 74 people died from consuming drugs in Newfoundland and Labrador last year, eclipsing 2023’s record of 73 deaths.
Of the total number of drug deaths last year, 61 were deemed accidental, nine were suicides and four were undetermined.
The numbers, which were shared with CBC Investigates by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, show cocaine was the deadliest drug in the province, contributing to 34 deaths. Fentanyl was the key factor in 17 deaths, while benzodiazapines were found to be at fault in 14 deaths.