Toronto police say an alleged drug dealer has been arrested after 12 people suffered overdoses at a supervised injection site in the city’s downtown core Wednesday night.
Emergency crews were called to the site on Victoria Street, near Yonge-Dundas Square, at around 5:15 p.m. for reports of a “medical emergency.”
“The information that was received was that numerous individuals had gone into distress immediately after ingesting what we believe to be fentanyl,” Supt. Steve Watts said in a news conference Thursday afternoon.
Watts said they had trouble recovering, even when treated with naloxone, which targets opioid receptors in the brain to reverse an overdose and is normally effective within minutes.
“None of the individuals recovered in a way that was typical for a normal fentanyl overdose. This leads us to believe that the substance distributed last night was a mixture of fentanyl and another undetermined substance at this point,” Watts said.
No fatalities were reported in the incident.
Watts said the mixture may have contained an inhibitor to naloxone, similar to a batch of drugs that was recently seized by Halton Regional Police.
Health Canada and Toronto Public Health will be analyzing the substance to determine what it is made of.
“With the assistance of 51 Division personnel, members of the drug squad commenced an immediate investigation in an attempt to identify the individual or individuals selling this potentially lethal batch of fentanyl,” Watts said.
Within around two hours, a suspect was identified and arrested near the injection site.
“Purchasing (and) ingesting street drugs truly is a form of Russian roulette. The risk to public safety from ingesting street drugs remains critically high. I can advise that while we have arrested one alleged dealer, there is also the possibility that further batches of this substance remains on our streets at this time,” Watts said.
He said drug dealers often mix fentanyl with other potentially lethal substances for a variety of reasons, including profit maximization.
Whanny Mymuller, 38, of Toronto has since been arrested and charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime.