Fighting fentanyl: Police provide update 1 month after overdose cluster

The rise of fentanyl is growing with the appetite for heroin in the St. John's area, but one police officer saysit's buyer beware.

Sgt. Steve Knight, an officer with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, provided an update on the fight against opioidsone month after a cluster of fentanyl-related overdoses wasrevealedby public health officials.

• Fentanyl, heroin found concealed on man's body in Conception Bay South

"Right now we have a lot of cocaine on the streets. Prescriptionpills have taken off quite a bit," Knight told CBC News.

"Theheroinandfentanylaspect is relatively new."

Not manufactured here, police say

Knight saidthere are a lot of people in the province misusingillegal medications, and it has become a big problem.

Now, users are purchasing "bad heroin" that's mixed with fentanyl and in one case has proven to be fatal.

Since April 1, there has been one recorded fentanyl-related death, and 21 overdoses where the users have survived. However, that number is estimated to be much higherbecause people can be savedat home with naloxone kits, instead of going to the hospital.

Since police and public health officials noted a spike in opioid-relatedoverdoses in April, some charges have been laid, and heroin with traces of fentanyl has been seized.

'It's bad heroin coming in mixed withfentanyl.And people are trying to pass it off as good quality heroin but that's not the case.'- Sgt. Steve Knight

The problem isn't isolated to St. John's, either, Knight says.

Bay St. George RCMPconfirmed two weeks ago that fake Percocet tablets seized in the Stephenville area contained fentanyl.

• Fake Percocet pills containing fentanyl seized in Stephenville area

"From our stand point,fentanylis being mixed with other drugs. It's being masked as one thing and sold as something else," he said.

"We're seeing both powder-form and pills. It's coming in both ways."

Appetite growing for heroin

As for how the drug is getting to streets on an island province, Knight said he believes there's more than one source and that it's being shipped and trafficked here.

"It's bad heroin coming in mixed withfentanyl.And people are trying to pass it off as good quality heroin but that's not the case."

Heroin has been seen in the province before, he said, but the appetite didn't seem to be there until now.

"There's always someone who will try and bring something in to try, to get a new trend going and make money that way," he said. "The ultimate goal of a drug dealer is to make moneythey're not caring or worrying about the people using it."

Finding the source of the tainted drugs can be difficult and comes with its own set of challenges, but Knight said officers have their own methods of investigation.

Knight saidhe has spoken to some of the users who have overdosed and is encouraging anyone who has an opioid overdose to seek medical treatment.

"It's an addiction and it's a sickness and they need help for what they're into but thesepeopledon'twant to die. They don't have a death wish," he said.

"There's no ingredientslabels on packaging that comes from a drug dealer ... Buyer beware kind of thing. You're taking something you don't know and it could result in death."

CBC Newfoundland and Labrador is hosting a live discussion on Facebook Tuesday at 7 p.m. NT on fentanyl and opioid use in the province. Join in on the conversation here.