Police focus drug efforts on fentanyl

Other drugs often laced with potentially fatal opioid unbeknownst to users

WATERLOO REGION — In the past three months, Waterloo Regional Police have had four significant seizures of fentanyl.

Most of it is in the powder form, which is likely coming from China and then rebranded here with other drugs and sold mostly to unintentional users, said Det. Const. Ian Young.

Some of the fentanyl has also been found in meth and cocaine, which is formed into pills and sold as counterfeit oxys, he said.

“Fentanyl is a pharmaceutical that is used in later stages (medically) because of its potency. For someone with no tolerance who takes it unknowingly, it could be fatal,” Young said.

Two such cases occurred in the Ottawa area recently. A 14-year-old girl died of a drug overdose last month, and in December an 18year-old died after taking counterfeit Percocet painkillers that were laced with fentanyl.

Locally, police seized suspected fentanyl, cocaine and fentanyl tablets in Cambridge valued at $20,000 in one instance this month, and in another they seized meth, fentanyl, crack cocaine and hydromorphone.

In another seizure, police arrested a man and seized meth, oxycodone pills and suspected fentanyl, as well as cash. At another house, police found additional amounts of suspected fentanyl, cash and a firearm.

In January, police arrested a 34-year-old Kitchener man on Stirling Avenue.

During a search, police seized weapons, and fentanyl, heroin and methamphetamine with a street value of $246,000. Police also found $15,000 in cash and a loaded handgun.

In 2016, police had 69 seizures of fentanyl.

Locally, paramedics are responding to nearly two opioid overdoses a day.

Last October, five people overdosed after using what they believed was cocaine at a party in Barrie, but the partygoers actually took heroin laced with fentanyl.

The four men and a woman were taken to hospital after collapsing in various locations in Barrie after leaving the party. Toxicology reports showed that all five took a combination of heroin and fentanyl.

Fentanyl — a drug prescribed for chronic pain management — produces a drug high but also depresses the body’s rate of respiration, which can cause breathing to stop.

A dose of just two milligrams of pure fentanyl can be lethal. The deadly opioid is 100 times more potent than morphine.

Young said police have refocussed their efforts, putting resources into fighting the fentanyl crisis.

“It is our investigative priority because of its potency,” he said. “We have restructured internally to target more effectively the drug dealers.”