A Deadly Drug Used as an Elephant Sedative Is Spreading Across Canada

It’s been several months since, and now, carfentanil has been found in multiple Canadian provinces—Alberta, BC, Manitoba, and, most recently, Ontario—and has been linked to multiple overdose deaths. A stronger chemical cousin of fentanyl, the drug is known for being a large-animal tranquilizer and for its alleged use as a chemical weapon by Russia. In Canada, it’s been found in a number of different forms: on acid-like blotter paper, as a powder, cut into cocaine, and in the ubiquitous round, green, fake Oxy 80 pills that are typically fentanyl.

Michael Parkinson of the Waterloo Region Crime Prevention Council had been anticipating the deadly drug’s arrival in Canada after it wreaked havoc nearby in Ohio causing a string of overdoses. Last month, the drug was seized for the first time in the very region he works, southern Ontario.

The drug has now been confirmed in multiple places in Ontario: St. Thomas, Cambridge, Kitchener. “[In one case in Ontario], one person put a tiny bit of powder [containing carfentanil] on their lips and overdosed right away,” Parkinson told VICE.

And on December 7, Toronto police announced that carfentanil had been confirmed mixed in cocaine in the city. “I’ve had conversations with a number of physicians where [in Ontario] people who are using cocaine are exhibiting the symptoms of opioid withdrawal and don’t understand what is going on—the reality is that their cocaine is laced with [opioids]” Parkinson said.

Edmonton-based addiction and public health specialist Dr. Hakique Virani said the proliferation of carfentanil in the Canadian illicit drug supply does not change what has always needed to be done to respond to the opioid crisis—it does, however, “increase the urgency and priority.” As Virani has stressed before, increased availability of naloxone, supervised drug use spaces, and access to effective addiction treatment are some key actions that need to be taken.

In the midst of what he and others have called “the worst drug safety crisis in Canadian history,” Parkinson continues to be disappointed with the lack of a province-wide monitoring and alert system for tracking the presence of and ODs caused by drugs like fentanyl and carfentanil in Ontario.

“It’s largely being picked up at the local level by groups that are the least-equipped to deal with outbreaks of highly toxic substances,” he said. The group he works for put together a fact sheet about carfentanil to warn the public of its arrival in the province.

There is also a growing concern that following known harm reduction guidelines may not be enough given that such a small amount of carfentanil—less than a grain of salt—can cause an OD. “It really forces a rethink of traditional harm reduction messages,” Parkinson said. An increased amount of naloxone, sometimes up to five times the regular dose or an IV, according to Parkison, can be needed to halt a carfentanil overdose.

“When we discussed bootleg fentanyls in [past years], we warned that a narrow focus on one drug and a preoccupation with supply control and enforcement without substantial improvements in addiction treatment access (demand reduction) and safety measures (harm reduction) would result in even more toxic opioids that are easier to traffic entering the market,” Virani told VICE. “This is not something we’re happy saying ‘we told you so’ about, but here we are.”

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