Police in northern Ontario tracking cases of bootleg fentanyl

Police across the northeast are tracking a form of bootleg fentanyl which is making its way across Ontario.

On Monday, the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police released an advisory warning about a potential crisis as the drug is showing up in different parts of the province. 

Staff Sergeant Al Asunmaa of the Greater Sudbury Police Service says synthetic fentanyl is not prescribed by doctors. He also says it`s made specifically to target drug addicts.

"These aren't pharmaceutical drugs. A majority of them are made overseas," he says. "Any time they're not made by a manufacturer, there is a deep concern because of the ingredients that are being used," Asunmaa added. 

'Deep concern because of ingredients being used'

Provinces like British Columbia are currently dealing with a fentanyl crisis. Earlier this year, a state of emergency was declared due to an increase in drug overdose deaths linked to the drug.

So far, Sudbury Police have made two seizures of synthetic fentanyl within the past three months.

However, Asunmaa says police are well aware there may be more cases in the future.

"They've obviously initiated in Western Canada. We're seeing it in southern Ontario, and now unfortunately, even up here in northern Ontario."

Detective Constable Brad Reaume of the North Bay Police Service says two seizures of the drug have also been made there.

Reaume explains that synthetic fentanyl can be seen in powder form or is being packaged as OxyContin pills.

Lethal amount of fentanyl equal to 'two to three grains of salt'

"A lethal amount of fentanyl [equates to] two to three grains of salt," he says.

"That same amount - even on a long-time drug abuser - it might actually kill them. And in many cases across the country, it is killing people," says Reaume.

As for the city of Timmins, there have been no seizures of synthetic fentanyl made so far. 

Marc Depatie of the Timmins Police Service says they are working with community groups to educate the public about the drug before it is spotted in the city.

"No narcotic is absolutely safe. But this particular one poses a significant threat, given the sheer number of people who've been affected health-wise or died as a result of an overdose linked to the potency of the substance," he says.

"We're hopeful that the message does reach [the public] that this is a dangerous substance."