No spike in deadly drugs discovered
With the spike in opioid overdoses and deaths on the Blood Tribe Reserve this past week, local law enforcement agencies are trying to determine if the incidents are part of a small batch of overpotent opioids being used by a self-contained group of people on the reserve, or part of a larger trend which could have dire implications for Lethbridge and other surrounding communities.
ALERT spokesperson Mike Tucker says, so far, his officers have found no cause for elevated concern in the area.
“In speaking with our organized crime team which works in both communities, they haven’t really noticed an increase or spike either way,” Tucker says. “The presence of fentanyl and carfentanil is something they have been wrangling with for months, and they haven’t noted any recent change in the trends so far.”
ALERT has heard anecdotal stories of a greater supply of potent opioids, like carfentanil, available in southern Alberta in recent months, but these claims must be taken with a grain of salt, says Tucker.
“It’s hard to substantiate it,” he says, “but what we hear on the street and from the information we are provided is there is more carfentanil out there. But the danger in relying on that information is generally the dealer doesn’t know what it is. That’s the risk with this stuff — he doesn’t know whether its fentanyl, carfentanil or some other substances. There is no quality control or any mechanism to ensure proper dosage, etc. The end user has no idea what they are ingesting or putting into their bodies.”
Whenever there are more overdoses and deaths, as reported on the Blood Reserve this past week, says Tucker, it does tend to put police and emergency officials at a heightened level of awareness.
“I know we will be looking at intelligence sharing with the Blood Tribe Police Service to know exactly what happened, and looking more closely at what was being ingested that caused these overdoses,” he says.
The Lethbridge Police Service also confirmed to The Herald its officers have not seen any increase in overdose deaths due to opioids in the city in recent weeks, but they are watching the local drug situation closely.