So, the number of O.D. deaths in B.C. may be 1,500 this year. 
How bad is that?  
In 2016, "Illicit drug overdoses" entered the Top Ten of causes of death for the first time (at #9). 
How bad is that?
Number of O.D.s: 914.  
How bad is that?
In 2015, B.C. much greater epidemic claimed 9,983.  About ten times more victims than the O.D. "crisis." It was cancer.
The same year, 6,281 people died of heart disease.  2,248 died due to the #3 cause of death: stroke.  Accidents claimed more than O.D.'s (1,271.) More people (1,251) died of pneumonia (#8 cause of death) than illicit drug overdoses. (Global news, Jan 18 1017)

Look at it another way. B.C.'s 2016 population is 4.6 million. What's 914? Or 1,500?
A century ago, an annual death toll of 1,167 deaths due to one specific cause was a true catastrophe. That number represented 47.8% of ALL deaths in Vancouver.  The cause: Spanish flu, June 1918-June 1919. (Source: Thesis, Sarah Buchanan, Queen's Univ. 2007)