Pubdate: Tue, 14 Feb 2017
Source: Southern Gazette, The (CN NF)
Copyright: 2017 Transcontinental Media
Contact:  http://www.southerngazette.ca/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/4042
Author: Colin Farrell
Page: A1

EDUCATION IS KEY, SAYS RCMP OFFICER

The Merge hosts fentanyl information session

If there was ever a time that people needed to talk to their kids
about drugs, it would be now.

The importance of education and communication were the key topics
brought up during an information session on the drug fentanyl held at
The Merge on Feb. 9.

Staff Sgt. Dale Foote, of the Burin Peninsula detachment of the RCMP,
was one of the invited speakers for the evening.

"Everyone thinks that the overdose at the hospital is going to be the
individual that is addicted to drugs, that's not (always) that case,"
said Foote during his presentation. "We're living in a time right now
where the types of drugs people are using are lethal if they're
inhaled by anybody, they're lethal if some one comes in contact with
them - that's very important for our teenagers to know."

Foote said that is the message he would like to get out to the
teenagers and children around the Burin Peninsula.

Foote explained that fentanyl is prescribed as a pain medication,
commonly in the form of a slow-release patch; however, he said it is
also produced illegally,

"That's the biggest part of what we're seeing is the illegal form and
it's the one that we really need to be fearful of," he said.

The officer said the illegally produced drug can be pressed into
pills, designed to mimic other legal medications or it can be found in
a powder form.

Foote explained that locally, it has been confirmed that pills marked
with a CDN on one side and the number 10 on the other are being sold
locally.

"They were misrepresented as Oxy 10's," Foote said. "There is no pill
made (that are) Oxy 10' s. "The person selling the drug actually had a
snapshot of a Google page on their phone when they were selling it to
try and convince the person buying it."

Foote also said that unconfirmed information they have received leads
them to believe fentanyl can also be found in some of the cocaine
being sold on the peninsula.
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MAP posted-by: Matt