The day before Halloween, Prince Albert police are alerting the public about the possibility of fentanyl found resembling candy.
Insp. Brent McDonald said on Friday afternoon that the illicit drug may be in the Saskatchewan community after a seizure that took place within the past 48 hours.
“At this time, there’s no overdoses that we have responded to or that we believe have occurred to date in regards to the investigation,” he said.
“Typically, the lab results can take months. We can request an expedited return. And we certainly would if we begin to see any overdoses or if we come across more of it, we would certainly follow up with an expedited request.
“This advisory is part of our duty to protect public safety … it’s certainly important that we make this advisory based on the best information that we have. And now that we’ve confirmed that we do believe, even prior to getting our test results back, we believe it’s fentanyl and we made that confirmation (Friday).”
Police said the alleged fentanyl may be in various bright colours and is being described as “pebbles.”
“That’s a description of our investigators that based on the seizure that we’ve made,” McDonald said.
“The recent seizure was, I guess it could be best described as a, like the candy, the Nerds candies. And it can come in several different colours. That’s what the recent seizure looked like. It was a purple kind of substance like nerd candies.”
Police said because fentanyl is often mixed with other substances, it will not have a distinctive or unique appearance. They added it’s usually produced in powder form and dealers mix fentanyl with other drugs, such as heroin, methamphetamine, cocaine and MDMA.
“It’s an odourless drug and it doesn’t take very much. It’s just a few little specks of it can be fatal depending on the concentration of those particles. So I guess the message to the public is that all illicit drugs are obviously a risk to your health,” McDonald said.
“However, with the fentanyl in circulation, it’s especially dangerous given its potency and its ability to be mixed with other drugs.”
The Prince Albert Police Service said it’s concerned for the health and safety of all members of the community and reminded the public about the risks associated with using illegal street drugs.
“Any member of the public can go to Access Place or a pharmacy and they can request a naloxone kit free of charge and they’ll get instruction on how to use it as well. So anybody out there, if you’re an illicit drug user, especially, because this is on the street. It could be wise to take opportunity of these free kits and have them for such a situation,” McDonald said.
“Our front-line officers and are specialized units, they do carry a Narcan nasal spray to give treatment to overdose subjects.
“When our officers are conducting drug searches or handling illicit drugs and exhibits such as this, obviously the proper protective measures are taken. (Person protective equipment) PPE that’s the golden phrase given the COVID world here but our officers will definitely utilize PPE when handling suspected substances or conducting searches where we’re expecting to come across that.”
Police are advising people to call 911 immediately if they think someone is in need of medical attention as a result of drug use.
Anyone with information about the presence of fentanyl in Prince Albert is asked to contact police at 306-953-4222 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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