An opioid 25 times stronger than fentanyl shows crisis is worsening: experts

Experts said opioid and addictions concerns from Belleville, Ont., and Quebec City are linked — and that both indicate a worsening crisis and more overdoses.

An Ontario mayor declared a state of emergency after nearly 20 people overdosed in 24 hours.

And Quebec City health authorities have issued new warnings after detecting an opioid 25 times stronger than fentanyl disguised as prescription oxycodone.

Experts say both events demonstrate worsening trends in Canada’s drug supply and opioid crisis, even as they caution that focusing too closely on a new drug or single event misses the broader picture – that the death toll continues to rise.

“We’ve known for years that the drug supply that’s sold on the streets is toxic. We’ve known for years that it’s unpredictable,” said Dr. Alexander Caudarella, a family physician focusing on addictions treatment and CEO of the Canadian Centre on Substance Use and Addiction.

“We know the prevention efforts, the treatment efforts and the harm reduction efforts that work. Many of them have been around for decades.”

Caudarella said drugs like protonitazepyne, spotted for the first time in Quebec City on Sunday, keep getting more potent because dealers can make them anywhere and because more powerful drugs become easier to traffic since a user needs less to get high.

He told Global News it’s a new, and especially toxic, form of an opioid already circulating that, besides being a very powerful pain reliever, suppresses breathing more than most other opioids – leading to more overdoses.

“There’s a lot of fear amongst clinicians and, I would say, the clients that we have,” he told Global News of the worsening drug supply.