Montreal police are spearheading three simultaneous raids of suspected drug synthesis labs spread around the island of Montreal.
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First responders on the scene said it’s possible the sites were cooking fentanyl, a potent opioid pain medication that is increasingly being mixed into powerful and deadly narcotics.
“It’s the first time in Quebec,” said Ronald Mcinnis, a spokesperson with the Sûreté du Québec (SQ).
By 12 p.m. Friday, police had made no arrests.
The raids come on the heels of similar drug busts a week earlier, and two months after provincial police raided the first-ever fentanyl labs in Quebec.
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Police and addiction counsellors are coming to grips with a growing fentanyl problem that may be creeping closer to the Montreal area.
“When I first heard about the crisis that was coming, I was certainly very concerned,” said Rabbi Benyamin Bresinger with Chabad Lifeline.
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The drug is 40 times stronger than heroin, as much as 100 times stronger than morphine and a dose the size of a grain of salt can be deadly.
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Originally, the drug would be distributed from western Canada through conventional mail, with labs producing the narcotic form of the prescription painkiller in Vancouver.
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Now, authorities worry the drug is increasingly being concocted in eastern parts of the country.