B.C. health ministry says drug users testing positive for opioid carfentanil
VICTORIA — The appearance of the deadly opioid carfentanil may explain the dramatic spike in overdoses in British Columbia, despite efforts to slow the carnage, the provincial health officer says.
Dr. Perry Kendall said as the number of overdose deaths climbed to record levels in November and December, officials suspected the synthetic drug normally used as a tranquilizer on large animals like elephants was to blame.
B.C.’s Health Ministry announced Wednesday a small number of urine tests conducted over a two-week period at drug treatment facilities across Metro Vancouver tested positive for carfentanil.
“It’s not good news, it’s confirmation of what we had feared,” Kendall says. “It means the drug supply has become considerably more dangerous than it was beforehand.”