The latest generation of street drugs are so dangerous police need to take new precautions to avoid skin contact when they're out in the field, says a Greater Sudbury Police Service officer.
Sgt. James Killeen and four of his colleagues with the Greater Sudbury Police Service drug unit attended the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police Fentanyl Symposium in Toronto, from Nov. 30 to Dec. 1, to learn more about the dangerous opioid that has become more common on Sudbury's streets.
Killeen joined the drug unit in 2002 as a constable.
“We didn't see a lot of fentanyl because the problem then was oxycodone,” he said.
But in more recent years fentanyl, which is up to 100 times more powerful than morphine, has become the drug of choice for many people addicted to opiods.
In 2016, Sudbury police participated in two investigations in which they seized more than 300 fentanyl patches in each case.
A drug dealer usually cuts each patch into four to five strips, each of which contain a strong enough dose to cause an overdose.
Fentanyl and its derivatives are so dangerous, police need to change approaches they've used in the past.
“You can end up getting a lethal dose just by touching it,” Killeen said.
Before fentanyl was a concern, police officers would use drug testing kits that would change colours to identify a narcotic.
“We're not doing that anymore because we don't want to open that bag and expose the powders,” Killeen said. “I don't know if that's cocaine in there, and I'm not going to take the chance and weigh it out and then it ends up being fentanyl powder.”
More than 500 police officers from across Ontario participated in the fentanyl symposium in Toronto.
One of the big topics of discussion, said Killeen, was how to take proper precautions to avoid risking the health and safety of officers.
Some of those precautions include equipping police services with proper gloves and masks for anyone dealing with street drugs.
The Greater Sudbury Police Service is also looking into equipping officers with a naloxone nasal spray. Naloxone is a drug that quickly counteracts the effects of an overdose from an opioid like fentanyl.
Killeen said Sudbury paramedics are already equipped with a form of the drug that can be injected.
In addition to protecting the safety of fellow police officers, Killeen and his colleagues also learned how to educate the public about the dangers of fentanyl and its derivatives.
If a person spots a container with a powder that could be drugs, they should not open it and call the police, Killeen said.
The city's community drug strategy is working on ways to educate the public about the drug and its potential dangers, he added.
