Fentanyl seizures soaring, police say
Officers take 65,000 pills off street last year as war on opioids heats up
Edmonton police’s drug and gang unit seized tens of thousands of fentanyl pills last year, up from just a few hundred the year before, as law enforcement continues to turn its attention to the deadly opioid.
Statistics presented in a recent police commission report show how much of each type of drug the Edmonton Drug and Gang Enforcement Section (EDGE) seized in each of the last five years.
Fentanyl seizures by the unit showed a dramatic rise — to 65,907 pills and 8.2 kilograms of fentanyl powder last year from 655 pills and .06 kg of fentanyl powder in 2016.
Last year, 135 people in Edmonton died of fentanyl-related overdoses, according to statistics released Friday.
EDGE Det. Guy Pilon said that reflects the drug’s prevalence in Edmonton, as well as the energy police are putting toward getting it off the street.
“I wouldn’t say we’re specifically going after fentanyl dealers, although it’s a high priority. It’s just the increase in the availability of it and the amount that’s on the street.
“The mixture of fentanyl we’re finding in other drugs such as cocaine and methamphetamine has really increased in the past couple years.”
The police commission statistics represent seizures by EDGE only, and not drugs taken off the street by other units or by Edmonton police members working with the integrated Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).
The statistics showed significant year-to-year increases in seizures of buffing agent (to 356.1 kg last year from 82.1 kg in 2016), a type of banned substance dealers add to drugs like cocaine or fentanyl to decrease purity and increase yields and profit margins.
Cocaine seizures also rose yearto-year to 24.9 kg in 2017 from 13.5 kg in 2016 (though down from a five-year high of 54.9 kg in 2013). EDGE also seized more marijuana last year than the year before, to 56.6 kg from 22.2 kg.
GHB, commonly known as the date rape drug, has seen one of the biggest drops in seizures, to zero in each of the last two years from 22.9 litres in 2014 and 251.3 litres in 2013.
Pilon said the statistics only tell part of the story.
“The numbers are just numbers. I would say the street trends we’re seeing are a greater amount of fentanyl and methamphetamine, as well as cocaine. Marijuana, of course, is very prevalent. But fentanyl is the big thing.”
He added police are seeing an overall reduction in heroin seizures and that much of what’s being sold as heroin is actually fentanyl or carfentanil — an opioid about 5,000 times as potent as heroin.