Sunday February 9, 2025 | LANGFORD, BC [Posted at 12:33 pm | Updated February 11, 2025]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
The drug called fentanyl — which is often fatal for anyone who consumes — is big in the news right now.
Seems that progress has been made in some aspects of the problem, but Trump’s tariff threat linked with border/fentanyl issues has put a spotlight on this issue.
What is Fentanyl:
Fentanyl is a potent synthetic opioid drug approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for use as an analgesic (pain relief) and anesthetic. It is approximately 100 times more potent than morphine and 50 times more potent than heroin as an analgesic.
But it has caused many deaths by being included in other street drugs, with users generally unaware of the presence of the fentanyl. Since around 2016 in BC fentanyl has been the leading cause of drug overdose deaths.
“Fentanyl is a very potent opioid pain reliever. A few grains can be enough to kill you,” says Health Canada on their Health Canada fentanyl webpage. It can even be absorbed through the skin, with advice by Health Canada to first responders.
Fentanyl in the illegal drug market:
Health Canada says that fentanyl — an odourless and tasteless drug — enters the Canadian illegal drug market in 3 ways:
- illegal import from other countries;
- product from illegal laboratories in Canada;
- theft of medical fentanyl products (mainly skin patches).
Federal and cross-border attention:
Canada is in the process of appointing a ‘Fentanyl Czar’. That person would handle a centralized approach to dealing with the fentanyl crisis in Canada. [Update February 11, 2025: the first-ever Fentanyl Czar is former RCMP Deputy Commissioner Kevin Brosseau]
That political and governmental development came about after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had two phone calls with US President Donald Trump on February 3 — just one day ahead of the supposed start of US tariffs on all Canadian imports.
The creation of the Fentanyl Czar position (the first position so-named in Canada) was part of results from a conversation between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump, that served (at least in part) to hold off the US President’s threat of 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports to the US.
Public Safety Minister David McGuinty said last week in Winnipeg that Canada’s ‘fentanyl czar’ will be appointed before Trump’s tariff pause presumably ends on or about March 6.
The RCMP’s Commissioner Michael Duheme is all in favour of it, pointing out how various streams of intel and information will be centralized to the benefit of all levels of government, law enforcement and intelligence including border operations.
Canadian leadership — Trudeau as well as Finance and Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic Leblanc and Public Safety Minister David McGuinty — admit more can be done.
Border service drug detection:
The next day after the Fentanyl Czar announcement by Trudeau, McGuinty was in Winnipeg for a tour of a drug analysis lab, attended as well by Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew.
McGuinty, Kinew, and local Winnipeg South MP Terry Duguid watched as a drug-detection system was demonstrated. In addition to detecting fentanyl as well as precursors such as 4-piperidone and 1-boc-4-piperidone.
Drug busts by RCMP and police:
Back in April 2023, Vancouver Police released news about their joint-forces drug investigation that shut down a major fentanyl lab and intercepted nearly $8 million in illicit, deadly drugs that were destined for distribution in the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island. Investigators seized more than seven kilograms of suspected fentanyl, 800 grams of methamphetamines, and $39,000 cash from inside the lab.
That was evidently a significant drug bust of a system that involved Mexican drug cartels, showing the international extent of the drug trade on the North American continent.
That 2023 bust in Vancouver does not seem to have received the attention that it deserves in the context of Canada making a dent in the production of fentanyl in this country.
In October 2024, it was announced that a specialized RCMP unit had taken down “the largest illicit drug lab ever found in Canada”, located in Falkland (about 70 km east of Kamloops). Police seized 54 kilograms of finished fentanyl, 390 kilograms of methamphetamine, 35 kilograms of cocaine, 15 kilograms of MDMA, and six kilograms of cannabis. Some of the drug operations equipment evidently dated to as far back as 2015.
“The precursor chemical in combination with the finished fentanyl products seized at this location could have amounted to 95 million potentially lethal doses of fentanyl, which have been prevented from entering Canadian communities and markets abroad,” said Assistant Commissioner David Teboul, head of the RCMP’s federal policing program in BC.
Local busts:
Here on south Vancouver Island, the West Shore RCMP has seized drugs in several instances. The most recent of those seizures was just this past week — it started with a traffic stop check by bicycle patrol officers which led to finding a residence where a range of unregulated drugs were seized.
From finding a small baggie of drugs as the driver got out of the pickup truck, RCMP then found Approximately 32 grams of suspected Fentanyl; Approximately 100 milliliters of liquid suspected to be Gamma Hydroxybutyrate (GHB); Approximately 10 grams of suspected Methamphetamine; Approximately 29 grams of suspected Cocaine; and drug trafficking paraphernalia; as well as more than $2,000 cash.
That led to finding the following at a residence in Langford: approximately 31 grams of suspected fentanyl; approximately 1.5 liters of suspected GHB; approximately 39 grams of suspected Methamphetamine; numerous prescription bottles that appear to be stolen; approximately 600 pills of suspected Dilaudid prescription medication; approximately 21 grams of Psilocybin; and drug trafficking paraphernalia.
Back in April 2023 a West Shore RCMP drug bust also uncovered some dynamite.
Drug-related deaths in BC (2024):
The BC Coroners Service reported last week that unregulated drug toxicity in communities throughout the province resulted in 2,253 lives lost last year.
The BC drug death rate is down: “The cumulative number of unregulated drug deaths represents a 13% decrease from the number of deaths in 2023 and is less than the annual figure from any of the previous three years. The rate of death in 2024 was 40 per 100,000 people, compared with 47 per 100,000 in 2023, 45 per 100,000 in 2022 and 44 per 100,000 in 2021,” as stated by the BC Coroners Service in a February 4, 2025 news release.
In 2024, about seven of every 10 persons who died from drug toxicity were between the ages of 30 and 59, and nearly three-quarters were male. There are certainly some socioeconomic root causes to be examined there.
The Vancouver Island Construction Association (VICA) identified several years ago that a lot of construction workers are among those with drug-impacted addiction and drug-toxicity death (that may relate to the physical pain of construction work leading to drug use for pain relief, and things get worse from there).
BC Health Minister’s statement:
On February 4, the BC Minister of Health Josie Osborne said in a statement:
“This public health emergency touches every corner of our province. Addiction can be influenced by many factors, including housing challenges, the cost of living, mental and physical pain, and intergenerational trauma. By addressing these issues openly and expanding supports, we can help reduce the stigma around substance use and encourage individuals to seek help rather than struggle in addiction.
“Although there is a decrease in deaths, 152 in November 2024 and 147 in December 2024, this in no way diminishes grief that permeates our communities,” said Osborne.
The BC government says it is continuing to expand mental-health and addictions care, including early intervention and prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery services, support and complex-care housing, and more.
“We are building up a seamless system of care so everyone, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, has access to the care they need,” said Osborne.
===== RELATED:
- Canada’s first-ever Fentanyl Czar is Kevin Brosseau (February 11, 2025)
- Addressing root causes of toxic drug public health emergency (April 14, 2023)
- West Shore RCMP drug bust dug up dynamite (April 13, 2023)
- Compassionate leadership expected to help as drug toxicity deaths rise (August 16, 2022)
- Deaths from illicit toxic drugs skyrocket in BC (June 30, 2021)
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