RED LAKE, Ont. – Provincial police are warning people in two remote northwestern Ontario communities that the deadly opioid fentanyl is in street drugs available in the area.
Const. Jon Schmidt says police intelligence indicates that fentanyl is being “abused” in Red Lake and Ear Falls and they want to make sure people know the drug has reached their communities, located more than 500 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont.
READ MORE: Ontario Provincial Police join fentanyl awareness campaign on social media
Schmidt says police have not had any reports of fentanyl-related overdoses in the area but are aware of its presence in the region.
Fentanyl is an extremely potent synthetic opioid prescribed to manage acute and chronic pain that is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 40 times stronger than heroin.
READ MORE: Fentanyl deaths on the rise in Ontario as drug creeps eastward from western Canada
There have been more than 500 deaths in Ontario over the past five years related to fentanyl abuse.
Police have warned that drug dealers are adding fentanyl to other drugs they sell – like cocaine and counterfeit oxycodone tablets – to increase their profits and this is increasing the number of overdoses and deaths as people unwittingly use a drug that’s stronger than they expect.
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