BRAUN: Fentanyl crisis prompts manslaughter charges

Fentanyl continues to kill.

Over a thousand people died of opioid overdose in Ontario in the first nine months of 2018.

There were 3200 such deaths across the country during that period. Most of these deaths, 93%, were accidental.

About 75% involved fentanyl.

All those unintended deaths attest to the toxicity of fentanyl and to the fact that almost all types of street drugs now contain the synthetic opioid. Fentanyl is about 100 times stronger than morphine and kills people every day.

This is not anybody’s idea of a silver lining, but the certain knowledge that fentanyl is deadly now permits police to charge drug dealers with manslaughter.

York Regional Police charged an alleged drug dealer in Oakville with manslaughter last summer following the fentanyl overdose death of a Toronto man.

And earlier this month, York cops were able to lay manslaughter charges in two other cases.

A Mississauga woman, Claire Kozlowski, 24, was charged after the overdose death of a young woman in Whitchurch-Stouffville; Michael Calvan, 33, of Richmond Hill, was charged after an overdose death in Markham.

Both alleged drug dealers are charged with manslaughter, criminal negligence causing death and trafficking.

According to Const. Laura Nicolle, this is a sign of the times.

And dealers should be aware the writing is on the wall.

“People know what a danger this is. There have been so many overdose deaths. So anyone lacing drugs with fentanyl or sharing fentanyl knows it’s likely to cause death — everybody knows that.”

Nicolle confirms many of the illegal drugs police encounter these days are laced with fentanyl — heroin, crack, cocaine, meth, ecstasy, etc.

Counterfeit oxycodone and percocet tablets contain fentanyl; a tiny amount — about the same size of four grains of salt — is enough to kill an adult, according to the RCMP.

“There’s no way of detecting fentanyl in your drugs beforehand,” says Nicolle.

“If you know anyone who uses any kind of recreational drug, they may be exposed. Somebody puts something out on the coffee table,” she says, “and the tiniest amount can be fatal.”

The threat posed by fentanyl cannot be overestimated.

Meanwhile, as the emergency use of overdose-death-preventatives Naloxone and Narcan skyrockets, police want to remind people that these are not in themselves life savers — they just buy you enough time to get to the emergency department.

If you’re lucky.

“It can be administered too late,” says Nicolle. “As it is, it just pauses the effects so you can get help.”

Fentanyl is an equal-opportunity killer, taking down middle-class drug dabblers and hardened addicts alike. It didn’t take long for the toxicity of the drug to become common knowledge.

“The dangers are well-known,” says Nicolle. “The public is educated. If you’re putting it into drugs, and we’re talking about taking a life here — there will be a lengthy and thorough investigation.”

“And it will lead to the person who supplied the drugs.”

lbraun@postmedia.com