Northern Health and the Prince George RCMP say they are investigating “a number” of overdoses in the past 24hrs.
The overdose victims all survived after receiving treatment at the emergency room at UHNBC. All were regular uses of opioid drugs.
Northern Health says “one possibility” being investigated is fentanyl, a synthetic opioid which has been detected in several recent overdose deaths across BC. Fentanyl is 50-100 times stronger than traditional opiates and has been detected in toxicology testing of two drug overdose deaths in northern B.C. earlier this year.
Northern Health is urging opiate drug users to be cautious if they insist on using as fentanyl is often sold or cut into a number of other drugs.