Fentanyl crisis coming to Ontario, police and community groups warn

Ontario police and community groups are raising the alarm that afentanyl crisis could be looming as synthetic versions of the drugappear across the province as they have elsewhere in Canada and the U.S.

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An advisory released Monday by the Ontario Association of Chiefsof Police, the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council and othergroups says 2016 has been a record year for overdose alerts andseizures of so-called "bootleg" fentanyls by law enforcement officers.

The advisory says bootleg fentanyls refer to drugs thatare not prescribed by doctors, but produced synthetically and soldon the black market, usually mixed in with other illicit substances.

"Those [people] repackaging and traffickingare very much amateur chemists, dealing with a substance that is lethal in micrograms," Michael Parkinson of the Waterloo RegionCrime Prevention Council told CBCNews, "so a small error can mean a large number of overdose fatalities."

Synthetic versions of the drug include carefentanil, which isoften used as an elephant tranquilizer, and W-18, a drug that hasprompted warnings from police in several Canadian cities.

Drug seizuresrise

Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police spokesman Joe Couto said provincial law enforcement officials have seen an increase in thesynthetic drugs in recent seizures, suggesting it is becoming moreprevalent.

The feeling is that we're sitting on a ticking time bomb, and it's about to explode.- Michael Parkinson, Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council

He saidsome people may not see a fentanyl crisis as a lawenforcement issue, but Couto saidhis group believes mitigating theproblem will prevent both crimes and overdose deaths.

Several other jurisdictions are also experiencing fentanylcrises, including Ohio, where last week it was reported that 1,155deaths were related to the drug in 2015. Over just two days last week, Ohio had 78 reported fentanyl overdoses, Parkinson said.

British Columbia's chief medical officer declared a state ofemergency earlier this year after an increase in drug overdosedeaths, many of which were linked to the dangerous opioid.

"In British Columbia overdose fatalities are up 74 per cent in the first seven months of this year," Parkinson added.

Crisis like 'ticking time bomb'

Parkinson said indicators such as drug seizures point to a crisisbeing on the verge of unfolding in Ontario, too.

"These fentanyls are seeping intodrugs like heroin and cocaine as counterfeit pills, and the experience from British Columbia has been that most people will be completely unaware that their substancehas been contaminated by the fentanyls," he said.

"Really, the feeling is that we're sitting on a ticking timebomb and it's about to explode," he adds.

Police, community groups and health care providers in Ontario arenow looking to other jurisdictions to see how they're handling thecrisis, and plan ahead.

Couto saidpolice officers are constantly talking to theircolleagues in other provinces and states, because they don'twantto re-learn lessons other jurisdictions have already gleaned fromthe crisis.

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Ontario has taken B.C.'s lead in public education,advising drug users to be extra cautious because there may beunexpectedly powerful substances mixed into their usual doses, he added.

Taking lessons from other places is crucial because a fentanylcrisis isn't confined by territorial borders, he adds.

"This is a Canadian problem. This isn't just a provincialproblem or a specific city's problem. We are going to have people inthis province dying if we aren't being pro-active."

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Couto and Parkinson both say they hope the advisory gets peopletalking about fentanyl and helps make the issue a priority,particularly for governments.

Overdose rapid, hard to treat

"For us, we can't just deal with the consequence," Couto said."If we're called because somebody has overdosed, we've failed as asociety."

"The onset of a fentanyl overdose is rapid, compared to other opioids." Parkinson explained.

He saidthat reports from emergency providers indicate larger-than-expecteddoses of Naloxone an injected drug used to treat opioid overdoses often administered by paramedics are required to revive victims.