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Drug alert and Over­dose Alert

DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS MAN­I­TO­BA: Feb­ru­ary 52024

Street drugs found in an unusu­al form (tablet) test­ed for Fen­tanyl, Fal­con Beach, Manitoba

A sam­ple of a street drug that appeared as a tablet (coun­ter­feit Hydro­mor­phone Tablet) in Fal­con Beach, Man­i­to­ba and test­ed by Health Cana­da — Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice on Jan­u­ary 2, 2024. The sam­ple test­ed from Fen­tanyl.

Health Canada’s Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice (DAS) tests ille­gal drugs seized by Cana­di­an law enforce­ment agen­cies. For more infor­ma­tion on drugs ana­lyzed by DAS, see Ana­lyzed Drug Report — Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice | Pub­lic Health Infobase — Pub­lic Health Agency of Canada

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

If you use drugs:

  • Call 911 (or your local emer­gency response num­ber) if you wit­ness or expe­ri­ence an over­dose. The Good Samar­i­tan Over­dose Pro­tec­tion Act will pro­tect those involved from drug pos­ses­sion charges or breach of pro­ba­tion/pre-tri­al release charges.
  • Get nalox­one and over­dose train­ing before using – bring a friend. Check the Nalox­one Find­er – Take Home Pro­gram | Health | Province of Man­i­to­ba for the near­est location. 
  • Be aware that ben­zo­di­azepines don’t respond to naloxone.
  • Do not use drugs alone or behind a locked door. Have a des­ig­nat­ed respon­der: Stag­ger use with friends so some­one can respond/​call 911 if needed. 
  • If you are using alone con­sid­er call­ing the Nation­al Over­dose Pre­ven­tion Hot­line at 18886886677, where you will be con­nect­ed to a safe con­sump­tion vol­un­teer who stays on the line for 15 – 30 min­utes while you use the sub­stance. https://​www​.nors​.ca/
  • Use a less direct route when you take drugs. Inject­ing a drug is the most direct and dan­ger­ous route. 
  • If you mix drugs, reduce the amount of each drug you take and use opi­oids before ben­zos or alco­hol. Use the most unpre­dictable drug first.
  • Use one drug at a time, test your drugs every time by doing a small­er than usu­al test amount first.
  • Wait before tak­ing anoth­er dose – some drugs take longer to take effect
  • The amount of nalox­one in a take-home kit may not be enough to reverse very pow­er­ful over­dos­es, such as those caused by fen­tanyl-like drugs.
  • If you inject, do not share any injec­tion equip­ment (nee­dles, cook­ers, fil­ters, rinse). Ster­ile drug use sup­plies are avail­able from many places – See www​.street​con​nec​tions​.ca

For com­mu­ni­ty agencies:

The Safer Bath­rooms Toolk­it pro­vides resources to assess and respond to the poten­tial risk of drug tox­i­c­i­ty events with­in facil­i­ty bathrooms.

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DRUG ALERT WIN­NIPEG: June 282023

Street drugs test­ed for bro­ma­zo­lam, fen­tanyl and xylazine in Winnipeg

A sam­ple of a street drug that appeared as a tablet (coun­ter­feit Xanax tablet) was con­fis­cat­ed in Win­nipeg, Man­i­to­ba and test­ed by Health Cana­da — Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice in May 2023. The sam­ple test­ed for Bro­ma­zo­lam (ben­zo), Fen­tanyl, and Xylazine.

Health Canada’s Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice (DAS) test ille­gal drugs seized by Cana­di­an law enforce­ment agen­cies. For more infor­ma­tion on drugs ana­lyzed by DAS, see Ana­lyzed Drug Report — Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice | Pub­lic Health Infobase — Pub­lic Health Agency of Canada

Bro­ma­zo­lam is a high­ly potent, short-act­ing ben­­zo­di­azepine-relat­ed drug. It has effects that depress the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem, these include seda­tion and skele­tal mus­cu­lar relaxation.

Ben­zos caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it.

Ben­zo­di­azepines (espe­cial­ly in large amounts) mixed with fen­tanyl can cause a com­plex over­dose. If pos­si­ble, con­sid­er start­ing with a small tester dose, not using alone and car­ry­ing naloxone.

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

The com­bi­na­tion of these two sub­stances can increase harms.

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DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS WIN­NIPEG: April 28, 2023

Street drugs test­ed for fen­tanyl and ben­zo­di­azepines in Winnipeg

A sam­ple of a sub­stance sold as​“unknown” that looked like blue gran­ules in Win­nipeg was test­ed by Get Your Drugs Test­ed ser­vices. This sam­ple was dat­ed on April 25, 2023. It was test­ed by FTIR spec­trom­e­ter tech­nol­o­gy, which found to have a com­bi­na­tion of fen­tanyl 10 – 15%, bro­ma­zo­lam 5 – 10% and dimethyl sul­fone, caf­feine and ery­thri­tol. It was pos­i­tive for fen­tanyl and/​or fen­tanyl ana­logues on the fen­tanyl test strip. It was pos­i­tive for ben­zo­di­azepines on the ben­zo test strip. 

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

Bro­ma­zo­lam is a high­ly potent, short-act­ing ben­­zo­di­azepine-relat­ed drug. It has effects that depress the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem, these include seda­tion and skele­tal mus­cu­lar relaxation. 

Ben­zos caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it.

Ben­zo­di­azepines (espe­cial­ly in large amounts) mixed with fen­tanyl can cause a com­plex over­dose. If pos­si­ble, con­sid­er start­ing with a small tester dose, not using alone and car­ry­ing naloxone.

The com­bi­na­tion of these two sub­stances can increase harms.

Unknown Blue Gran­ules Apr2023

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DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS WIN­NIPEG: March 31, 2023

Street drugs test­ed for fen­tanyl and ben­zo­di­azepines in Winnipeg

A sam­ple of a sub­stance sold as down” that looked like blue gran­ules in Win­nipeg was test­ed by Get Your Drugs Test­ed ser­vices. This sam­ple was dat­ed on March 29, 2023. It was test­ed by FTIR spec­trom­e­ter tech­nol­o­gy, which found to have a com­bi­na­tion of bro­ma­zo­lam 15 – 20%, fen­tanyl 15 – 20%, and caf­feine and ery­thri­tol. It was pos­i­tive for fen­tanyl and/​or fen­tanyl ana­logues on the fen­tanyl test strip. It was pos­i­tive for ben­zo­di­azepines on the ben­zo test strip. 

This sam­ple con­tained a larg­er amount of ben­zo­di­azepines than typ­i­cal­ly test­ed by this ser­vice in Van­cou­ver.

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

Bro­ma­zo­lam is a high­ly potent, short-act­ing ben­zo­di­azepine-relat­ed drug. It has effects that depress the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem, these include seda­tion and skele­tal mus­cu­lar relaxation. 

Ben­zos caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it.

Ben­zo­di­azepines (espe­cial­ly in large amounts) mixed with fen­tanyl can cause a com­plex over­dose. If pos­si­ble, con­sid­er start­ing with a small tester dose, not using alone and car­ry­ing naloxone.

The com­bi­na­tion of these two sub­stances can increase harms.

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DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS MAN­I­TO­BA: Feb­ru­ary 21, 2023

Street drugs in Man­i­to­ba of con­cern and nov­el sub­stances: Deschloroe­ti­zo­lam and Fen­tanyl.

An orange powder/​grainy sub­stance seized in Win­kler, Man­i­to­ba in Jan­u­ary 2023 was test­ed. Health Cana­da Drug Analy­sis Ser­vices con­firmed the prod­uct to con­tain Deschloroe­ti­zo­lam, a ben­zo­di­azepine, and Fen­tanyl.

Deschloroe­ti­zo­lam is a ben­zo­di­azepine-relat­ed drug, struc­tural­ly sim­i­lar to eti­zo­lam, although half as potent and last­ing twice as long.

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug (approx­i­mate­ly 50 – 100 times more tox­ic than mor­phine) that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

Ben­zo­di­azepine (ben­zos) caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it. Ben­zo­di­azepines can be more dan­ger­ous when com­bined with opioids. 

Health Canada’s Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice (DAS) test ille­gal drugs seized by Cana­di­an law enforce­ment agen­cies. For more infor­ma­tion on drugs ana­lyzed by DAS, see Ana­lyzed Drug Report — Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice | Pub­lic Health Infobase — Pub­lic Health Agency of Canada

Xylazine is a tran­quil­iz­er that can cause drowsi­ness and seda­tion, slow breath­ing, heart rate, and blood pres­sure to dan­ger­ous­ly low lev­el, and may cause the per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it.

The com­bi­na­tion of these three sub­stances can com­pound harms.

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DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS WIN­NIPEG: Jan­u­ary 202023

Cas­es of severe over­dose pre­sent­ing to hos­pi­tal (HSC) report­ing using meth — week of Jan.16, 2023

Reports indi­cate the sub­stance was sold as meth” and brought about sud­den loss of con­scious­ness and quick, severe prob­lems breath­ing. No infor­ma­tion is cur­rent­ly avail­able con­firm­ing the com­po­nents of the sub­stances involved. Peo­ple were respon­sive to naloxone.

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DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS WIN­NIPEG: Decem­ber 192022

Street drugs test­ed for fen­tanyl and ben­zo­di­azepines in Winnipeg

A sam­ple of a sub­stance sold as unknown” that looked like a small orange peb­ble in Win­nipeg was test­ed by Get Your Drugs Test­ed ser­vices. This sam­ple was dat­ed on Decem­ber 7, 2022. It was test­ed by FTIR spec­trom­e­ter tech­nol­o­gy, which found to have a com­bi­na­tion of ery­thri­tol 65 – 70%, and fen­tanyl 30 – 35%. It was pos­i­tive for fen­tanyl and/​or fen­tanyl ana­logues on the fen­tanyl test strip. It was neg­a­tive for ben­zo­di­azepines on the ben­zo test strip. How­ev­er, it is sus­pect­ed that this sam­ple con­tains eti­zo­lam, a ben­zo drug class that does not trig­ger the ben­zo test strips.

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

Eti­zo­lam is a thien­odi­azepine which is sim­i­lar to the ben­zo­di­azepine drug class. It has effects that depress the cen­tral ner­vous sys­tem, these include seda­tion and skele­tal mus­cu­lar relax­ation. Eti­zo­lam is strong at low dos­es.

Ben­zos caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it.

This sam­ple con­tains more than the aver­age amount of fen­tanyl test­ed by this ser­vice in Van­cou­ver and in com­bi­na­tion with pos­si­ble eti­zo­lam, there is a high­er risk for a com­plex over­dose. If pos­si­ble, con­sid­er start­ing with a small tester dose, not using alone and car­ry­ing naloxone.

The com­bi­na­tion of these two sub­stances can increase harms.

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DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS WIN­NIPEG: Octo­ber 252022

Com­mu­ni­ty agen­cies in cen­tral Win­nipeg report occur­rence of fatal drug tox­i­c­i­ty events Oct 21 and 22, 2022 and a spike in harms relat­ed to drug tox­i­c­i­ty over the same time frame.

Reports indi­cate the sub­stance was sold as meth” and brought about unex­pect­ed loss of con­scious­ness and quick, severe impair­ment of res­pi­ra­to­ry func­tion. No infor­ma­tion is cur­rent­ly avail­able con­firm­ing the com­po­nents of the sub­stances involved.

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DRUG AND OVER­DOSE ALERTS WIN­NIPEG: Octo­ber 122022

Street drugs in Win­nipeg of con­cern and nov­el sub­stances: Para-Flu­o­ro­fen­tanyl and Isotonitazine.

A brown powder/​grainy substance seized in Win­nipeg in Sep­tem­ber 2022. Health Cana­da Drug Analy­sis Ser­vices has con­firmed the prod­uct to con­tain Para-Flu­o­ro­fen­tanyl, Fen­tanyl, a ben­zo­di­azepine named eti­zo­lam, caf­feine, and diphenhydramine

Coun­ter­feit Oxy­codone tablets: blue, round, PER­CO­CET 5” on one side, scored on reverse were seized in Win­nipeg in August 2022. Health Cana­da Drug Analy­sis Ser­vices has con­firmed the prod­uct to con­tain a ben­z­im­i­da­zole opi­oid, name­ly Isotonitazene. 

Iso­toni­tazene is a syn­thet­ic opi­oid drug, con­sid­ered to be approx­i­mate­ly 500 times more tox­ic than morphine. 

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug (approx­i­mate­ly 50 – 100 times more tox­ic than mor­phine) that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

Para-flu­o­ro­fen­tanyl is a syn­thet­ic opi­oid relat­ed to fen­tanyl. There is lit­tle infor­ma­tion avail­able on the strength of this drug relat­ed to fen­tanyl, but it has been asso­ci­at­ed with increased opi­oid tox­i­c­i­ty in North America. 

Ben­zo­di­azepine (ben­zos) caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it. Ben­zo­di­azepines can be more dan­ger­ous when com­bined with opioids. 

Health Canada’s Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice (DAS) test ille­gal drugs seized by Cana­di­an law enforce­ment agen­cies. For more infor­ma­tion on drugs ana­lyzed by DAS, see Ana­lyzed Drug Report — Drug Analy­sis Ser­vice | Pub­lic Health Infobase — Pub­lic Health Agency of Canada

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Octo­ber 62021

Street drugs test­ed for fen­tanyl and ben­zo­di­azepines in Winnipeg

A sam­ple of a sub­stances sold as unknown” that looked like a orange chunk in Win­nipeg was test­ed by Get Your Drug Test­ed ser­vices. This sam­ple, test­ed by FTIR spec­trom­e­ter tech­nol­o­gy, was found to have a com­bi­na­tion of Ery­thri­tol 75 – 80% (a sug­ar-based filler), Caf­feine 15 – 20%, Fen­tanyl 5 – 10% This sam­ple also test­ed pos­i­tive for Ben­zo­di­azepines by test strip. 

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

Ben­zo­di­azepine (ben­zos) caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it.

The com­bi­na­tion of these two sub­stances can increase harms.

Unkown Orange chunk

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Octo­ber 62021

Street drugs test­ed for fen­tanyl and ben­zo­di­azepines in Winnipeg

A sam­ple of a sub­stances sold as unknown” that looked like green gran­ules in Win­nipeg was test­ed by Get Your Drug Test­ed ser­vices. This sam­ple, test­ed by FTIR spec­trom­e­ter tech­nol­o­gy, was found to have a com­bi­na­tion of Dimethyl Sul­fone 60 – 65% (a filler), uncer­tain oil 20 – 25%, Fen­tanyl 15 – 20%, an uncer­tain match like­ly to be a fen­tanyl ana­logue 5 – 10%. This sam­ple also test­ed pos­i­tive for Ben­zo­di­azepines by test strip. 

Fen­tanyl is a very tox­ic opi­oid drug that can result in over­dose caus­ing res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion, uncon­scious­ness and death.

Ben­zo­di­azepine (ben­zos) caus­es res­pi­ra­to­ry depres­sion and seda­tion and may cause a per­son to lose con­scious­ness. Because it is not an opi­oid, nalox­one does not work on it.

The com­bi­na­tion of these two sub­stances can increase harms.

Unknown Green Granules

February 5, 2024

Street drugs found in an unusual form (tablet) tested for Fentanyl, Falcon Beach, Manitoba

A sample of a street drug that appeared as a tablet (counterfeit Hydromorphone Tablet) in Falcon Beach, Manitoba and tested by Health Canada - Drug Analysis Service on January 2, 2024. The sample tested from Fentanyl.

Health Canada's Drug Analysis Service (DAS) tests illegal drugs seized by Canadian law enforcement agencies. For more information on drugs analyzed by DAS, see Analyzed Drug Report - Drug Analysis Service | Public Health Infobase - Public Health Agency of Canada

Fentanyl is a very toxic opioid drug that can result in overdose causing respiratory depression, unconsciousness and death.

August 17, 2022

Street drugs tested for fentanyl and novel non-opioid veterinary tranquilizer “Xylazine” in Winnipeg, Manitoba

A sample of a street drug that appeared as a powder and grainy substance was confiscated in Winnipeg Manitoba, and tested in July 2022 by Health Canada - Drug Analysis Service. The sample tested positive for fentanyl and Xylazine. This is the first report of Xylazine in this jurisdiction by Health Canada - Drug Analysis Service.

Health Canada's Drug Analysis Service (DAS) test illegal drugs seized by Canadian law enforcement agencies. For more information on drugs analyzed by DAS, see Analyzed Drug Report - Drug Analysis Service | Public Health Infobase - Public Health Agency of Canada

Fentanyl is a very toxic opioid drug that can result in overdose causing respiratory depression, unconsciousness and death.

Xylazine is a tranquilizer that can cause drowsiness and sedation, slow breathing, heart rate, and blood pressure to dangerously low level, and may cause the person to lose consciousness. Because it is not an opioid, naloxone does not work on it.

The combination of these two substances can increase harms.

August 8, 2022

Street drugs tested for fentanyl and novel benzodiazepine “Bromazolam” in Brandon and Winnipeg, Manitoba

A sample of a street drug that appeared as a beige powder was confiscated in Brandon Manitoba and tested by Health Canada - Drug Analysis Service. The sample tested positive for fentanyl and Bromazolam in June 2022. A sample of grainy substance from Winnipeg tested in July also contained Bromazolam. These are the first reports of Bromazolam in these jurisdictions by Health Canada - Drug Analysis Service.

Health Canada's Drug Analysis Service (DAS) test illegal drugs seized by Canadian law enforcement agencies. For more information on drugs tested by DAS, see Analyzed Drug Report - Drug Analysis Service | Public Health Infobase - Public Health Agency of Canada

Fentanyl is a very toxic opioid drug that can result in overdose causing respiratory depression, unconsciousness and death.

Bromazolam is a benzodiazepine (benzo) which causes respiratory depression and sedation and may cause a person to lose consciousness. Because it is not an opioid, naloxone does not work on it.

The combination of these two substances can increase harms.

If you use drugs:

Call 911 (or your local emer­gency response num­ber) if you wit­ness or expe­ri­ence an over­dose. The Good Samar­i­tan Over­dose Pro­tec­tion Act will pro­tect those involved from drug pos­ses­sion charges or breach of pro­ba­tion/pre-tri­al release charges.

  • Get nalox­one and over­dose train­ing before using – bring a friend
  • Be aware that ben­zo­di­azepines don’t respond to naloxone.
  • Do not use drugs alone or behind a locked door. Have a des­ig­nat­ed respon­der: Stag­ger use with friends so some­one can respond/​call 911 if needed. 
  • If you are using alone con­sid­er call­ing the Nation­al Over­dose Pre­ven­tion Hot­line at 18886886677, where you will be con­nect­ed to a safe con­sump­tion vol­un­teer who stays on the line for 15 – 30 min­utes while you use the substance.
  • Use a less direct route when you take drugs. Inject­ing a drug is the most direct and dan­ger­ous route. 
  • If you mix drugs, reduce the amount of each drug you take and use opi­oids before ben­zos or alco­hol. Use the most unpre­dictable drug first.
  • Use one drug at a time, test your drugs every time by doing a small­er than usu­al test amount first.
  • Wait before tak­ing anoth­er dose – some drugs take longer to take effect
  • The amount of nalox­one in a take-home kit may not be enough to reverse very pow­er­ful over­dos­es, such as those caused by fen­tanyl-like drugs.
  • If you inject do not share any injec­tion equip­ment (nee­dles, cook­ers, fil­ters, rinse). Ster­ile drug use sup­plies are avail­able from many places.