Calgary Herald

Health Canada moves to restrict W-18 opioid

Will make dangerous drug illegal under controlled substances act

- JOHN COTTER

Health Canada says it is moving quickly to include the dangerous synthetic opioid W-18 under the federal Controlled Drug and Substances Act but maintains the drug is already illegal under another law.

The department says it considers W-18, which police say is 100 times more powerful and toxic than fentanyl, to be a new psychoacti­ve substance after testing two samples from Alberta.

The Alberta government has been urging Ottawa to take action after police in Edmonton seized four kilograms of W-18 in December.

Police have said there was enough of the white powdery drug to make millions of pills, and Alberta officials sent out a warning to front line health staff to watch for a possible increase in overdoses.

There were 272 fentanyl-related deaths in Alberta last year, and health officials in the province consider W-18 to be more dangerous.

Health Canada says it is moving to treat W-18 as a Schedule 1 drug, which would make its unauthoriz­ed use illegal under the act.

“This would result in imposing restrictio­ns like those for other opioids, such as fentanyl and heroin,” Rebecca Gilman, a Health Canada spokeswoma­n, wrote in an email Thursday.

Gilman did not indicate when the designatio­n would take effect.

Health Canada said W-18 is not an authorized drug for human consumptio­n under the Food and Drugs Act, “and as such its sale and distributi­on is illegal in Canada.”

W-18 has previously been found in Calgary and British Columbia.

Health Canada’s website says W-18 was developed as a painkiller and was patented in Canada and the United States in 1984.

The website says W-18 has never been marketed commercial­ly and there’s no evidence W-18 has any uses apart from scientific research.

Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said police and health officials are worried because W-18 can be mixed with other drugs.

“Very small amounts of the substance can kill you,” Ganley said.

“The public really needs to understand that this can be in anything, that it is incredibly potent, it is incredibly lethal.”

The public really needs to understand that this can be in anything, that it is incredibly potent, it is incredibly lethal.

 ?? ALERT ?? Officials are worried about W-18, a drug much more toxic than fentanyl, seen in this police photograph.
ALERT Officials are worried about W-18, a drug much more toxic than fentanyl, seen in this police photograph.

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