All the anxiety about fentanyl is compounded now that carfentanil has been confirmed in the illegal drug supply in B.C.
New lab tests developed in B.C. that started Jan. 10 have confirmed what was previously suspected and heighten the urgency of the 10-month-old public-health emergency.
The test found carfentanil in 57 of 1,766 tests at five treatment facilities around Metro 91原创.
The more alarming number is in the measurement of the synthetic opioid鈥檚 potency. It鈥檚 considered 100 times more toxic than fentanyl, and fentanyl is already firmly established as being lethally powerful. It鈥檚 responsible for most of the huge increase in overdose deaths in B.C. over the past three years.
Carfentanil was found at the site of one fatal overdose, but tests have not yet confirmed it was the cause of death.
It will take more testing to determine the prevalence of carfentanil, and whether that prevalence is increasing. A new testing regime will begin in March.
It鈥檚 worth noting that those tests will be done on deceased victims. There is no reliable way to know if carfentanil or other poisons are in illegal drugs beforehand.
If carfentanil starts to contaminate the illicit supply to anywhere near the degree fentanyl has, this emergency will get worse.
