OPP Media Release
(ORILLIA, ON) – Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) is adding voices to the police and public health calls for extreme safety when it comes to handling or ingesting fentanyl.
The OPP is releasing audio public service announcements and will post or link content to its popular social media channels (Facebook and Twitter) in an effort to enhance education and awareness of the many threats posed by fentanyl and similar opioids.
“The trafficking of illegal and prescription drugs brings an element of society into our communities that engage in further criminal behaviours to protect their enterprises," said Deputy Commissioner Rick Barnum, OPP Investigations and Organized Crime.
"We must continue to work collaboratively with police leaders and community partners to tackle the issues created by the growing presence of fentanyl and similar substances.”
Although legal when prescribed by a doctor for chronic pain management, fentanyl is roughly 100 times more potent than morphine and about 40 times more potent than heroin. A lethal dose of pure fentanyl is as little as two milligrams. That’s equivalent to 32 grains of table salt or seven poppy seeds.
Drug dealers add illegally obtained fentanyl to other drugs they sell -- like cocaine and counterfeit oxycodone tablets -- as a cutting agent to increase their profits. That activity is also increasing the number of overdoses and deaths. Over the last five years, more than 500 people died in Ontario after knowingly or unknowingly ingesting fentanyl.
“OPP members and other first response agencies recognize the devastating impacts of misuse, abuse and distribution of illegal drugs and the growing toll this is taking on the communities we serve," said Chief Superintendent John Sullivan, Commander – Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau.
"We continue to doing our part to communicate the potentially deadly risks to the public at every opportunity.”
To find out more about the dangers of fentanyl and short term antidotes, we encourage everyone to visit www.facethefentanyl.ca , part of an awareness campaign supported by the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP).
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The Ontario Provincial Police Organized Crime Enforcement Bureau (OCEB) has a mandate to work with its partners to facilitate the disruption and suppression of criminal enterprises, which affects the citizens of Ontario. OCEB provides members and operational support to investigations on a provincial, national, and international level, working in cooperation with law enforcement agencies from around the world.
