Pubdate: Wed, 04 Mar 2015
Source: Prince George Citizen (CN BC)
Copyright: 2015 Prince George Citizen
Contact:  http://www.princegeorgecitizen.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/350
Author: John Colebourn
Page: 4

FENTANYL-LACED MARIJUANA CAUSING OVERDOSES, DEATHS

Startling statistics on fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths have 
prompted police and health authorities to issue a public warning - 
particularly to recreational pot users.

Vancouver police Const. Sandra Glendinning - at a news conference 
Monday to highlight the lethal risks of the synthetic drug - said 
investigators are now finding fentanyl turning up in batches of 
seized marijuana.

Vancouver police announced a major fentanyl drug ring was busted on 
Tuesday ( see story, under B.C. in brief, on page 7.)

According to B.C. Coroners Service spokesman Vince Stancato, about 25 
per cent of all overdose deaths in the province in 2014 involved the 
highly toxic fentanyl.

Some 84 deaths last year out of a total of 336 fatal drug overdoses 
were fentanyl-related.

In 2012 fentanyl accounted for five per cent of drug fatalities.

The synthetic narcotic, which is 50 to 100 times more toxic than 
other opioids, can be used in a number of ways.

Fentanyl comes in a powder, liquid or a pill, and it can be smoked, 
snorted or injected.

And there are particular cities where police are seeing more evidence 
of the drug, Stancato said.

Vancouver, Langley, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Nanaimo, Prince George and 
Fort St. John are the predominant places that see drug overdoses, he said.

"It is often mixed with heroin and cocaine. The key message here is, 
fentanyl is a contributor."

Glendinning could not say if any fatalities in Vancouver were due to 
pot laced with fentanyl. But she insisted that "absolutely" police 
are seeing fentanyl in marijuana.

"We are announcing a series of arrests on a major fentanyl bust (on 
Tuesday)," she added.

Vancouver Coastal Health's Dr. Mark Lysyshyn said the new campaign is 
directed at recreational drug users who may not even know the 
substance they are taking is laced with fentanyl.

He said in the last few years health officials have been actively 
spreading the word in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside about the 
fentanyl additives in hard drugs, and are now getting the warning out 
to people who may just dabble in drugs once in a blue moon.

"We aren't seeing a lot of deaths in the Downtown Eastside," he said.

"It is recreational drug users; these people are getting the drug and 
have no tolerance to it."

Someone suffering from a fentanyl overdose will show signs of being 
seriously ill, he said.

"People will have trouble talking and walking and be breathing 
irregularly and may pass out," he said.

"It is extremely toxic; you don't need very much."

To help people understand the risks of using drugs that may contain 
fentanyl, Glendinning recommended going to www.knowyoursource.ca .
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom