‘Fake’ OxyContin pills on Hamilton’s streets pose ‘grave danger’
More than 2,000 counterfeit tablets seized in Grimsby, Stoney Creek
Public health officials are warning that “fake” OxyContin pills may be circulating on Hamilton’s streets — and the imitation pills are potentially deadly.
The warning comes three weeks after the Hamilton police major drug unit seized more than 2,000 pills in Stoney Creek and Grimsby stamped “TEC” — falsely indicating OxyContin, a brand name for oxycodone, a powerful pain reliever that is highly addictive and often abused.
Following testing by Health Canada, the seized pills were found to contain nitazene, a “contaminant” opioid from a drug class known as benzimidazoles, that is “more potent than fentanyl and highly dangerous,” according to a public health news release.
Nitazenes were developed 60 years ago as potential pain relief medication, but never approved for clinical use, according to the Canadian Centre of Substance Use and Addiction.
A police spokesperson told The Spectator that investigators found the pills executing two search warrants at properties in Stoney Creek and Grimsby on March 22. Police seized cash, the counterfeit OxyContin and a “substantial quantity of cocaine.”
Two people were arrested and charged as a result of the search.
The contaminated pills pose a “grave danger,” added police on the social-media platform X.
No overdoses in Hamilton have been linked to the counterfeit pills, but that is a difficult connection to make, said Julie Prieto, the director of epidemiology and well-being with Hamilton Public Health.
“But we are always very concerned when you have these pills presenting as one type of opioid, but what is ultimately contained in that pill is a very different substance, with far greater risks from an overdose.”
A city news release said that “in the event of a drug poisoning” from the pills, “several rounds of naloxone may be needed to respond.” Naloxone is a medicine that reverses an opioid overdose.
For more information about drug poisoning, and naloxone kits, call the overdose prevention line (NORS) at 1-888-6886677 or visit www.hamilton.ca/ naloxone