Deadly opioid carfentanil detected in two deaths in Alberta

The deadlyopioidcarfentanil has been blamed for two overdose deaths in Alberta prompting a warning from the province's chief medical officer of health.

"Albertans need to know that the drug carfentanil has made its way into our province and that it is an extremely dangerous and deadly opioid," Dr.Karen Grimsrudsaid in a statement Friday.

"The smallest trace of carfentanil can be lethal and Albertans should be aware of the life-threatening dangers in using this drug."

Earlier this week, the chief medical examiner notified Grimsrudthat carfentanil was detected in two men in their 30s who died.

One of the deaths occurred in the Edmonton area, the other in Calgary.

Grimsrudsaidthere's no precise reason why the deadly drug has appeared in Alberta, but discussions with colleagues in British Columbia suggestusers aren't getting what they think they'rebuying.

"People often purchase drugs thinking it's one thing when in fact when they actually have it tested, it's another," she said.

There have been 153 fentanyl-related deaths in the first half of this year in Alberta compared to 139 deaths inthe same period last year.

"We have an issue withopioidsin this province,"Grimsrud said.

Alberta's acting chief medical examiner, Dr. Elizabeth Brooks-Lim, saidone of the men who died also hadfentanyl in his system. She says it's likely carfentanil could have been in Alberta for a while, but hadn'tbeen detecteduntil now.

Few labs can detect

The small amount of the drug thatcauses death is part of the problem.

"Because it's such a very low level, you need particularly sensitive equipment to be able to pick up that lower level of the drug," she said.

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One of the strongestopioidsknown,carfentanilis ananalogof the syntheticopioidfentanyl, but 100 times more potent.

It was originally manufactured for veterinarypurposes, designed to immobilize large animalslike moose and elephants.

There is no known safe use of the drug for humans.

Carfentanil looks much like table salt and police have said a doseas small as a grain of sandcould be fatal to humans.

Until very recently, toxicology tests could not confirm the existence of carfentanil in human blood due to the very low level of the drug needed to overdose.

Alberta's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner is believed to be the first toxicology laboratory in Canada to positively identify carfentanil in human blood.

Brooks-Limsaid to the bestof her knowledge, there are very few labs in North America capable ofmeasuringcarfentanil in human blood.