Police warn of potentially fatal counterfeit pills in circulation

Waterloo Region Police say potentially-fatal counterfeit pills resembling OxyContin have been found in the region. Two people have been treated for overdoses, one in Cambridge and the other in Kitchener.

• How to use a Naloxone opioid overdose kit

"Investigators determined the victims had consumed counterfeit pills crafted to resemble OxyContin, a medication which has not been in circulation since it was replaced in March of 2012 with OxyNeo," police said in a statement late Friday.

Photos supplied by police show green pills imprinted on one side with an "80" and the other with "CDN." Police say similar pills found in Western Canada were later shown to contain fentanyl, and were responsible for fatal and non-fatal overdoses there.

• Canadian couple face charges for smuggling fentanyl
• ​Pharmacists first line of defence in opioid overdoses

"As these pills are not being manufactured in controlled laboratory conditions, the contents within the individual pills can vary from a minimal to a fatal overdose with no way to determine the dosage from appearance," police said.

Police warn that fentanyl can be fatal in very small doses and advised "users of illicit drugs" to seek harm reduction information.