First Drug Deaths in Canada Linked to Carfentanil

For the first time, carfentanil, the highly potent opioid used to sedate elephants and also as a chemical weapon, has been linked to overdose deaths in Canada. Two recent deaths in Alberta have been linked to the drug that's been responsible for hundreds of overdoses across the United States.

It's around 50 times stronger than fentanyl and 10,000 times more powerful than morphine. Even a dose the size of grain of salt can be fatal.

The two individuals, men in their 30s from Edmonton and Calgary, tested positive for carfentanil in their systems earlier this week, federal police officers and public health authorities said in a press release on Friday.

"We are already in the eye of a deadly storm in fighting the horrific impacts of fentanyl in our communities. We are now even more challenged by the arrival of carfentanil on our streets," said Royal Canadian Mounted Police deputy commissioner Marianne Ryan.

The province's chief medical examiner explained that very few laboratories in North America have the ability to test for carfentanil in human blood. Last week, officials in Winnipeg, Manitoba said they believed two young people overdosed on drugs laced with carfentanil, but they were revived by paramedics with naloxone kits.

The US Drug Enforcement Agency has warned that communities everywhere should be high alert for the substance—that is being laced with other drugs such as heroin—and that agents should avoid coming into contact with it.

Ohio has declared a public health emergency over the matter, as authorities there have seen a record number of overdoses and more than 12 confirmed carfentanil-related overdose deaths in recent months. Detroit's medical examiner said on Friday there have been 19 deaths linked with carfentanil, and that it has been found in the local illicit drug supply.

In August, border agents in Vancouver seized one kilogram, enough for 50 million doses, of carfentanil bound to Calgary from China in a shipment disguised as printer accessories. Most of the illicit fentanyl coming into the US and Canada through the mail comes from China.

However, the Canada Border Services Agency does not officially track carfentanil seizures "as it is not tracked as an isolated narcotic," a spokesperson told VICE News in an email.

A recent investigation by the Associated Press revealed that Chinese companies would export the chemical to the US, Canada, and parts of Europe. The US government has been pressuring China to blacklist the substance.

In 2002, more than 120 people were killed after Russian special forces sprayed a version of the substance in a theatre where hundreds of hostages were kept for days during a stand-off with Chechen separatists.

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