Close X
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
ADVT 
National

Drug Checking Finds Fentanyl, Other Substances In Vancouver Street Drugs

The Canadian Press, 17 May, 2018 11:42 AM
    VANCOUVER — A drug-checking program has found that more than 60 per cent of the substances tested at two supervised consumption sites in Vancouver didn't contain any of the drug that people had expected.
     
     
    Dr. Ken Tupper with the B.C. Centre on Substance Use says the findings were particularly stark when people brought in what they thought was heroin but 88 per cent of it tested positive for fentanyl.
     
     
    The BC Coroners Service has said the illicit opioid fentanyl was detected in about 83 per cent of the over 1,400 overdose deaths last year in the province.
     
     
    In a bid to stem the overdose rate, the drug-checking program was launched last November, using fentanyl test strips and a portable machine that tests small samples of illicit drugs for contaminants.
     
     
    The first six months of the program saw 1,714 samples tested and the centre says 61 per cent of those samples did not contain the drug the user expected.
     
     
    Tupper says the program is anonymous, so researchers haven't been able to study if people change their behaviour as a result of the tests.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Honour Killing: Man Axes Mother Of Eight To Death Over 'Honour' In Pakistan

    Honour Killing: Man Axes Mother Of Eight To Death Over 'Honour' In Pakistan
    A man surrendered himself to police in Badin after killing his wife by repeatedly hitting her with an axe over ‘honour’, media reports said on Wednesday.

    Honour Killing: Man Axes Mother Of Eight To Death Over 'Honour' In Pakistan

    New Mortgage Rules Behind Slide In B.C. Home Sales: Real Estate Association

    New Mortgage Rules Behind Slide In B.C. Home Sales: Real Estate Association
    The association says home sales fell 5.7 per cent in February, with about 6,200 properties changing hands.

    New Mortgage Rules Behind Slide In B.C. Home Sales: Real Estate Association

    B.C. Premier Wants To Know The Cost Before Backing World Cup Bid For Vancouver

    B.C. Premier Wants To Know The Cost Before Backing World Cup Bid For Vancouver
    Premier John Horgan says he would like to see World Cup soccer games at B.C. Place in Vancouver, but not at any price.

    B.C. Premier Wants To Know The Cost Before Backing World Cup Bid For Vancouver

    Independent Probe Into Squamish, B.C., Crash Involving RCMP Vehicle, Pedestrian

    Independent Probe Into Squamish, B.C., Crash Involving RCMP Vehicle, Pedestrian
    The Independent Investigations Office, which probes all police-involved deaths and serious injuries in B.C., says a team has been deployed after an RCMP vehicle hit a pedestrian Tuesday night.

    Independent Probe Into Squamish, B.C., Crash Involving RCMP Vehicle, Pedestrian

    B.C. Premier Says Court Is The Best Place For Pipeline Debate With Alberta

    B.C. Premier Says Court Is The Best Place For Pipeline Debate With Alberta
    VICTORIA — The best route for the ongoing Trans Mountain expansion pipeline dispute with Alberta is through the courts, says British Columbia Premier John Horgan.

    B.C. Premier Says Court Is The Best Place For Pipeline Debate With Alberta

    Ready To Be ‘Neelakantha’, Drink Poison To Clean System: RBI Chief Urjit Patel

    Ready To Be ‘Neelakantha’, Drink Poison To Clean System: RBI Chief Urjit Patel
    Observing that there has been a tendency in the pronouncements post revelation of the fraud that RBI supervision team should have caught it, Urjit Patel said no banking regulator can catch or prevent all frauds.

    Ready To Be ‘Neelakantha’, Drink Poison To Clean System: RBI Chief Urjit Patel