RCMP Staff Sgt. Jerry Nutbrown brings you behind the scenes with a serious of columns taking you behind police work and how it’s done in our community. If you have a question you think needs to be answered in Behind the Bison, send it to admin@borderpulse.ca and we will be sure to share it with him.
Like many communities, Lloydminster has many street level drugs available to those seeking it out.
Unfortunately for law enforcement, there is a never-ending supply and as we take down one dealer,
another fills in or the same dealer is back in business days later.
The Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) is what governs substances known as street drugs in
addition to other commonly abused or misused substances. The CDSA also speaks to other things such
as the forfeiture of offense related property and exemptions.
What I’d like to achieve in this article is to provide some insight into the local drug world and let you
know what we are seeing. Currently the most common drug we are dealing with is fentanyl and this is
what drives the overdoses.
Overdoses are generally caused by a greater that expected concentration of fentanyl in what the user
takes and the most common consumption method of fentanyl is inhalation. Like methamphetamine and
crack cocaine, a pipe is typically used to heat the substance and as it changes into a gas form, it is
inhaled. Often police can identify drug users as they will have paraphernalia to assist in the use of the
drug(s) they are taking.
Some users can overdose when they have abstained from the substance for a time and then take it
again. Their tolerance typically drops with abstinence and if they consume the same dose as when they
were using it on a regular basis, this can cause an overdose reaction. With fentanyl, different batches
are colored differently which assists us and users in identifying a ‘bad batch’.
Overdoses are also occurring due to other substances being mixed with fentanyl such as ketamine and
fluorofentanyl. We have also received lab analysis results back showing the inclusion of the
benzodiazepine family of drugs, which is a depressant, and increases the chances of overdoses.
Countless lives have been saved by the administration of naloxone hydrochloride which very quickly
reverses the effects of opioid drugs including fentanyl. Officers carry the Narcan brand of naloxone as
the initial intent was to have it available for the officer in case they get contaminated by fentanyl
however, 99% of our Narcan is utilized on others that are overdosing.
There has been a number of deaths over the past years of users that have overdosed. We don’t put out
media releases on deaths of that nature; however, these deaths do occur in the city.
We are also seeing methamphetamine, powder cocaine, crack cocaine, contraband cannabis and
prescription pills being abused in the city. These substances can be less prone to overdoses but because
all of these are not manufactured pharmaceutically, it is a roll of the dice with each dose taken because
they can contain almost anything as an additive or cutting agent.
For perspective, alcohol is responsible for more deaths in Canada each year, than any other drug.
However, the number one ‘substance’ in Canada that is responsible for the most deaths, is tobacco.
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