Stratford police are warning the public after recent tests by Health Canada found a rare designer drug seized in a series of raids earlier this year in Kitchener.
The March 21 raids were part of a joint investigation involving Stratford Police Service, Waterloo Regional Police and the OPP that netted $157,000 worth of illicit drugs and led to five arrests, police said Wednesday.
The seized drugs — including suspected fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin, ecstasy and others — were sent to Health Canada’s Drug Analysis Service for testing, the results of which came back on Monday, police said.
Found within the seized drugs, in the form of blue pills, was eutylone, a synthetic cathinone, police said.
Synthetic cathinones are more commonly known as “bath salts,” and are typically sold as ecstasy/MDMA or other similar designer drugs, police said. Though found as blue pills in this case, police said eutylone is also commonly found in a white or brown crystal-like powdered form.
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“This is the first time we’ve seen this drug in our community,” said Const. Darren Fischer. “Research that I did shows it’s been around since about the 1960s… most reports show it hasn’t been in wide circulation for years and it’s just starting to show, over the last couple years, some use throughout North America and Europe.”
Eutylone is so rare, police say, little information exists regarding its safety.
The drug, and other synthetic cathinones, are known to bring strong stimulant effects and stimulate the body’s central nervous system.
Police said adverse effects can include confusion, visual hallucinations, dehydration, excessive sweating, disconnected or inconsistent speech, extreme agitation, an irregular or very fast heart beat, cardiac arrest and death.
“I think it’s important to know that this drug is typically mixed in or sold as drugs such as ecstasy or MDMA,” said Fischer. “So just be aware you aren’t always getting what you’re buying. Be cautious of what you’re using.”
Police are asking members of the public to be aware of eutylone, and to report any suspected use of the drug.
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