The infamous drug fentanyl, which has been known to kill users in some cases, is being used in Mountain View County, an RCMP officer says.
Const. Terry Carew made that statement during a presentation on drugs at the Olds Rural Crime Watch Association's annual general meeting. That meeting took place March 23 at the Eagle Hill Community Centre.
Carew, who specializes in drug-related crime in the county, said fentanyl is one of the drugs commonly found in the county, along with marijuana, cocaine, crack cocaine, ecstasy, meth and even heroin.
She said according to Alberta Health, a deadly dose of fentanyl is two milligrams, which is the equivalent of two grains of salt.
“A small, small amount,” she said.
Carew says fentanyl can easily kill users because those who create it illegally in illicit labs don't care how they make it.
“Often when they're making it up in the lab illegally, they're not figuring out the concentration that should be in each tablet. So sometimes you'll have tablets that'll have more concentration than others. They're called hotspots,” she said.
“So basically, you're going to get one pill that's 10 per cent potency and then you're going to get another that's 500 per cent.
“You have no idea. You have fentanyl in your hand. You take one, it's basically like playing Russian roulette. You're taking the pill; you don't know what the potency is. It's not like it's being done in a pharmacy or a pharmaceutical facility – how we get normal prescription drugs,” she added.
Carew could not say if any Mountain View County residents have died from using fentanyl.
“I'm not aware that there have been fentanyl deaths in our community, but that doesn't mean there haven't been any fentanyl deaths,” she said.
She said at least one call for service involved someone who was overdosing on fentanyl.
“Fortunately for him, there was someone there who could do CPR (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) right away and he ended up living,” Carew said.
However, she pointed out RCMP don't get called out to every emergency that ambulance personnel attend.
Carew said in 2015, more Calgarians had died from fentanyl use than from traffic collisions and homicides combined.
“So it is quite an epidemic for this drug. That's a lot,” she said.
Carew says users have a misplaced confidence about the drug and their experience as drug users.
“I find with a fair amount of users, when I'm talking to them about fentanyl use, they say, ‘well, I'm not going to die because I only take two, and obviously that person who died last week must have taken 10.'
“But that's not the case. They don't realize – they don't think about – maybe there's a hotspot; maybe it's not all the same dosage,” she said.
"You have no idea. You have fentanyl in your hand. You take one, it's basically like playing Russian Roulette. You're taking the pill, you don't know what the potency is."CONST. TERRY CAREW
