Manslaughter charges dropped in case of fatal fentanyl overdoses

A southern Alberta man who gave drugs to two friends who fatally overdosed on fentanylsaw his manslaughter chargesformally dropped Monday.

Bobby Weasel Head was charged in March 2015 after he bought the drugs for himself and his friends while celebrating hisbirthday on the Blood Tribe reserve.

Last week, Weasel Head pleaded guilty in a Lethbridge courtto the lesser offence of trafficking fentanyl. He was sentenced to nine months in jail following a joint submission from Crown prosecutors Jim Sawa and Joshua Chanand defence lawyer Greg White.

Weasel Head wascelebrating his birthday on the Blood Reserve on March 20, 2015.His friendsRoxanne Nona Blood and Timothy Glen Eagle Speakerasked him to buy them Oxy 80s, the street name for fentanyl,because Weasel Head was the only one who had money, according to an agreed statement of facts.

He walked to another home and bought two pills for $50 each, returned to the party house and crushed them into three lines.

All three overdosed, butNona Blood and Eagle Speaker died while Weasel Head recovered after being taken to hospital.

The Blood Tribe, near Lethbridge, Alta., declared a fentanyl crisis in 2015 after theopioid which is up to 100 times more powerful than heroin was responsible for 16 deaths in the first three months of the year.

There have since been dozens more fatal fentanyl overdoses on the reserve.

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