Pubdate: Thu, 28 Jan 2016
Source: Medicine Hat News (CN AB)
Copyright: 2016 Alberta Newspaper Group, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.medicinehatnews.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1833
Author: Alex McCuaig
Page: A1

FENTANYL FIGHT NOT AN EASY ONE

Police province-wide are continuing to focus on stemming the flow of 
fentanyl into Alberta but are up against a lucrative illegal trade of 
a drug which costs extremely little to produce with a street-value of 
$20 per pill.

And with the rise of the drug's use in the province, so too comes the 
spike in deaths associated with the drug, with Alberta Health 
reporting at least 213 fatalities associated with fentanyl between 
Jan. 1 and Sept. 30, 2015.

That death toll has been rising at an accelerated rate since 2011 
when six deaths were reported, to 2014 when 120 fatalities for the whole year.

MHPS Insp. Brent Secondiak said fentanyl is not only posing a danger 
on its own but it's being found in other street drugs - even 
counterfeit Viagra.

"Edmonton Police Service, specifically, have been seeing fentanyl in 
just about every type of street drug that they've seized," said Secondiak.

It's too early to tell just how much that trend has penetrated the 
Hat illicit trade, said Secondiak, with testing of seized drugs often 
taking months to process.

"We still hear through various sources there is still a lot of 
fentanyl in town," said Secondiak, with more than 1,400 pills seized 
in Medicine Hat in 2014 and 2015 combined.

"We hear there is lots of users and more and more traffickers of the drug."

While busts like the one reported this week in Calgary, which seized 
more than 600 pills, "are a good step," Secondiak said a bigger one 
will be having some of the chemicals used to make the drug covered 
under criminal law and illegal to import.

"It's an ongoing battle with fentanyl with a lot of it coming from 
overseas," he added.

"(Foreign producers) can make an alarming amount of money."

Fentanyl was originally seen as a replacement pain killer for 
prescription opioids like Oxycontin - produced as a slow-release patch.

However, Secondiak said the drug is part of an overall trend, which 
is seeing an ever shifting move toward new illicit substances.

"It's no surprise in a few years there are going to be new chemicals 
made to give people a high, and there are no laws to prevent them," 
said Secondiak.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom