Fentanyl overdoses in Quebec City linked to laced oxycodone
Powerful opiod 80 times stronger than morphine
The surge of deadly fentanyl overdoses reported across Canada has reached Quebec City.
Health officials say 11 people have overdosed, three fatally, after ingesting the narcotic in recent months.
Police and doctors alerted public health in July, but the deaths date back to April. Those who overdosed ranged in age from 29 to 42 years old.
Officials say they took counterfeit oxycodone pills laced with fentanyl.
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Fentanyl is a strong opioid that doctors prescribe to help patients manage chronic pain. It's estimated to be 80 times as powerful as morphine and hundreds of times more powerful than heroin, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"It can make you very sleepy and it suppresses your breathing," said CBC medical specialist, Peter Lin.
"People who are taking street [drugs], let's say heroin, that has been laced with fentanyl, they don't realize they're getting the fentanyl which is going to make them sleepy. They won't be able to breathe."
"Now for people who are taking street medication, so street drugs, let's say heroin, that has been laced with fentanyl, they don't realize they're getting the fentanyl which is going to make them sleepy, they won't be able to breathe."
This year alone, the drug has been linked to the deaths of 145 people in Alberta.
In Montreal, public health officials said that during the month of May, there were six deaths in six days.
"Between May 17 and May 22, there were six deaths caused by drug overdose, most of those intravenous. In June, there was one death," Montreal Public Health Agency told CBC in an email, adding that it is still waiting for figures for the months of July and August.
Last summer in Montreal, six people died in one week after overdosing on fentanyl.
Lin says the drug has been used as a prescription painkiller for years, but it is usually administered in controlled doses, through a patch.
It's unclear how much fentanyl is in the pills that turned up in Quebec City, though police do have samples of the counterfeit drugs. Health authorities are warning people to look out for a blue pill marked A-215.