NO RISK IDENTIFIED IN REGINA
The Regina Police Service isn’t aware of any local presence of the particular product that caused several overdoses and two deaths in Saskatoon on the weekend.
But that isn’t to say fentanyllaced products aren’t out there and that drug users don’t need to remain vigilant to their dangers, a police spokeswoman said.
“We always have concern for residents of Regina who may be involved in illegal drug use,” Elizabeth Popowich said. “The activity that they’re involved in is really dangerous since they don’t know what sort of product they ’re getting. But, that said, we have no specific indication of cocaine laced with fentanyl in Regina at this time.”
The Saskatoon Police Service issued a release Sunday advising of a string of overdoses potentially caused by fentanyl-laced cocaine. Saskatoon police took the rare step of identifying the street name and phone number used by the suspected dealer in the hopes other buyers would turn over their product.
Noting police in the cities share information, Popowich said police in Regina weren’t issuing a similar specific warning at this time.
“We have had, in the past, a couple of occasions where we’ve issued a warning around an overdose or a near-fatal overdose, but we don’t at the moment have any information that would indicate it’s necessary for us to issue that specific a warning,” she said.
She did say there’s always a possibility that what happened in Saskatoon could happen here, putting out the general warning to the public that drugs — including fentanyl — are out there and the risks remain for anyone who uses.
“Our message to people, in a general way, has always been the same, that anyone who’s engaged in using illegal drugs is taking a risk because there are no quality controls for those products,” she
Anyone who’s engaged in using illegal drugs is taking a risk because there are no quality controls.
said. “And so people really don’t know what they’re getting.”
There have been recent cases in Regina where fentanyl was seized or suspected to be behind overdoses.
In September, Regina police issued a warning after fentanyl was confirmed in two non-fatal overdoses.
Last week, a man received a jail sentence for supplying fellow prisoners at Regina provincial court with a drug believed to have been laced with fentanyl — an incident that led to the near-fatal overdose of three men.