Fentanyl a growing problem in Toronto

Toronto police’s drug squad will reveal details into its efforts to combat the distribution of fentanyl, a prescription painkiller that is believed to be far more powerful that heroin or morphine.

Howie Page acknowledged Monday that the “landscape of the problem differs between Vancouver and Toronto”, but warned against being “naive to the potential of shifting trends of a fluid drug culture”. Fentanyl abuse and overdoses are more prominent in Western Canada, where heroin and opioid addictions are more prominent, Page added.

Heroin and OxyContin users may not be aware their drugs have been laced with fentanyl, Page said.

There are a number of sings that point to both the dead man and the hospitalized man using fentanyl, but it will be a few days before tests prove what drugs the men took, said Carver.

Police say it could be the first fentanyl-related death in our city.

Police are still waiting on toxicology reports, but they suspect that a death over the weekend, and another serious but non-lethal overdose, happened after two men consumed cocaine that may have been contaminated with fentanyl. Over that time, the annual death count rose by 1.7 times, from 63 in 2009 to 111 in 2013.

Page encouraged media to support the Patch-for-Patch initiative, whereby people prescribed Fentanyl must return their used patches in exchange for new ones.