Officials in Hamilton are warning that a deadly drug being passed off as oxycontin may be circulating throughout the city.
Police and public health put out a warning after a large number of pills were seized in the city in March.
Police say they took over two thousand fake oxycontin pills off the streets.
After testing from Health Canada, the pills were found to contain a highly dangerous opioid which is significantly more potent than fentanyl.
“Individuals may think they’re using one drug, but there is a risk in fact that they are using something different,” Hamilton Public Health said.
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After Health Canada tested the fake oxycontin pills, they were found to contain benzimidazole which is also known as nitazene.
“It’s very potent, we know it is certainly stronger than fentanyl, so there is a greater danger associated with that, and again the dangers are really increased risk of harms or overdose when using the drug,” Hamilton Public Health said.
In the event of an overdose on nitazene, Hamilton Public Health said just one round of naloxone, which can reverse an overdose from opioids, may not be enough.
“It may be that two or three kits of naloxone would need to be administered before someone would respond,” Hamilton Public Health said.
Hamilton police told CHCH News, over 2,000 pills were found in Stoney Creek after two search warrants. A large amount of cocaine was found as well.
Two people have been arrested, and are facing charges in connection to the found drugs.
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Police say the pills are stamped with the letters ‘TCE’ and look like oxycontin.
City Hall has boosted support for harm-reduction efforts in the city. The council has backed $667,000 in funding for agencies on the front lines of the opioid crisis. Though with some pushback from a few councillors.
The YMCA said it welcomes this funding for its safer-use program.
“We’ve been open for close to two years and we’ve seen over eight thousand visits. We never do know what might be in substances, so going low going slow you know using your support system, using safer use spaces like ours, or urban core is really critical to ensuring that we have the type of responses that keep people alive,” a YMCA spokesperson said.
Last year the Hamilton Paramedic Services responded to 964 suspected opioid overdoses making it the highest annual total recorded in Hamilton.