Would EPS give out a dealer’s number?
Detective weighs in on Saskatoon’s fentanyl warning
A detective is unsure if Edmonton police would ever release a drug dealer’s phone number as part of a public warning about fentanyllaced cocaine, as Saskatoon police did earlier this week.
On Sunday, the Saskatoon Police Service issued a news release warning that a batch of cocaine laced with fentanyl led to two deaths and four other people being hospitalized over the weekend.
“It could happen anywhere, any time,” Edmonton Drug and Gang Enforcement Team Det. Guy Pilon said Tuesday, speaking of the potential for a sudden rash of overdoses linked to a single batch of a drug.
Pilon said as far he knows, Edmonton and other Canadian police forces have never before given out a dealer’s phone number as part of a public alert.
The detective said there are protocols in place if Edmonton was to experience a similar situation.
“We would do some sort of warning; I don’t know whether we would go to that same extent,” he said.
Pilon said in cases when city police have noticed an anomaly with street drugs that required issuing a warning, they’ve sent an alert to the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction, an organization that in turn contacts programs and professionals that deal with substance abuse issues across Canada.
Saskatoon police also urged anyone who bought cocaine from the dealer to turn it in to police, no questions asked.
“(Saskatoon Police Service) is not searching to pursue charges for being in possession of this cocaine, we are interested in the health and safety of the public,” a news release said.
Edmonton drug users who think they have been sold fentanyl-laced drugs should call poison control and seek medical attention, Pilon said, adding they could file a police report if they want.
The motivation for adding fentanyl to other drugs is because the opioid is extremely addictive and inexpensive, he said.
“When you can add a potent, strong, addictive drug to something else, and now you create a customer who keeps coming back, it’s profit-driven,” Pilon said.
Pilon said police don’t know if fentanyl is being added at the distributor, trafficker or user stage.
He said some drug users like to do “speed balls” — mixing either cocaine or methamphetamine with an opioid.
Numbers released earlier this year show 562 people died from fentanyl overdoses in 2017 in Alberta, compared to 358 the previous year. The 2017 total is a 406 per cent increase over 2014.