Following reports of a new drug seized in February 2024, the Grande Prairie RCMP issued a warning to Grande Prairie residents due to concerns about a Nalozone-resistant opioid on the streets of the city.
According to the RCMP, a large quantity of a drug containing Fentanyl analog, Fluorofentanyl mixed with Bromazolam (a benzodiazepine) was seized following a suspected fatal overdose in February, leading to a public warning on April 16th.
Police describe the drug as an oval-shaped pill, stamped with “20” and “SS” however, officials say the drug could take other forms.
Alberta RCMP Public Information Officer Corporal Mathew Howell says while neither Fluorofentanyl nor Bromazolam are new street drugs, the finding is still cause for concern.
“Because it [Fluorofentanyl] is a lab-based drug, its potency is still uncertain whether it’s more potent or less potent than normal Fentanyl, that being said, Fentanyl remains dangerous in any analog,” he says. “The issue now that we’re seeing is that it’s been mixed with Bromazolam, and in this case, it was the first instance where the Bromazolam was mixed in with an Oxycodone pill in that format and now we’re seeing that’s being mixed in a lot more, even with other types of opioids.”
Howell says police are concerned due to the fact that Bromazolam has claimed the lives of nine New Brunswick residents in 2022, and is simply unaffected by traditional life-saving drugs like Naloxone.
“The big issue we have here is that Bromazolam is not affected by Narcan or any other drug that would normally slow down or reverse an opioid overdose,” he says. “They’ll take their usual dose and then realize they maybe took too much, then when they try to use the Narcan to save their lives it will not take effect because there is too much concentration of Bromazolam that’s not countered by Narcan.”
Howell adds that the problems can be boiled down to the drug market itself when consumers choose the more readily available or cheaper option which can lead to an impure product that can result in increased risks for drug users.
“The reason they do this is because they go with whatever is more easily available or whatever’s cheaper, so it creates essentially the same feeling as a high that you would get with just Fentanyl, but it’s mixed with something that might be easier to buy, cheaper, or so on,” he says.
Currently, the RCMP is monitoring the situation to determine where the drug is coming from; however, police still remain unaware of the source.
“We’re always trying to gather information with regards to who might be putting this on the street, where it’s being created, is it being imported, we don’t know yet,” Howell says.
As a result, the RCMP is asking anyone with information about illegal activity related to Fentanyl or other substances to reach out to their local police department, or anonymously through Crime Stoppers.