MANDEL: Were teens poisoned with fentanyl-laced pot?

It only takes a few grains to kill.

As a Toronto emergency room physician who has treated more than his share of overdoses, Dr. Brett Belchetz has a simple message: “Don’t buy street drugs.”

Belchetz isn’t surprised when he hears that two Milton teens nearly died this week after smoking what they thought was simple pot.

“Buyer beware,” the doctor warns.

“You never ever know what you’re getting.”

On Wednesday, two 18-year-olds lost consciousness and began convulsing on a deck outside a Milton home after smoking what they believed was cannabis.

Thankfully, responding Halton Police officers were able to save them by quickly administering Naloxone — a medication that can stop the deadly effects of opioids.

Had their pot been laced with fentanyl?

Fentanyl is a pain medication 100 times more potent than morphine with a lethal dosage of just 2 milligrams.

As CAMH warns, “Because fentanyl is so strong, the difference between a dose that will get you high and a dose that can kill you is very small.”

We’ve long known that dealers have been adding it to heroin with deadly results.

In 2017, fentanyl was found in 47% of all seized heroin samples in Ontario and 4,000 Canadians died of opioid overdose — 308 in Toronto alone — with the overwhelming majority dying from accidentally ingesting street drugs cut with fentanyl.

Last month, there were more than 400 opioid overdoses in Toronto, 17 of them fatal.

If fentanyl were added to pot, those frightening numbers would skyrocket even higher.

Unfortunately the legalization of marijuana hasn’t eliminated the danger or the black market.

While customers buying their weed from legal stores don’t have to worry about what the safety of their drug, those still using street dealers can’t say the same.

And the customers turning to the underground drug trade are often underage teens who can’t buy their pot legally.

Who knows what they’re getting?

“Studies have shown that more than half of the drugs bought on the street are not what they claim to be” says Belchetz.

Last year, the Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit warned that they’d had reports of marijuana laced with fentanyl circulating in the community.

“It is important to note that drugs like fentanyl require very little amounts to result in overdose (as little as 2 grains of fentanyl),” the bulletin said.

“Even if there is not intentional mixing of drugs, all drugs have the potential to be cross-contaminated, which can result in overdose by people who do not have a tolerance to high-strength opioids.”

In 2017, London marijuana users were also warned their weed may contain fentanyl and the area’s top public health official advised pot users to carry Naloxone kits.

Last month, police in upstate New York issued a similar caution after confiscated marijuana tested positive for fentanyl

Yet some still claim it’s an urban legend and that there are no verified cases of cannabis being tainted with fentanyl.

In Toronto, the associate medical officer of health said she’s not aware of any cases here.

But a recent Toronto customer disputes that: “Last time I had to go black market I tested 2 days later for fentanyl,” he wrote on the Weedmaps website a few days ago.

“Yes, my weed was laced with fentanyl and my methadone doc told me.”

The Toronto ER doctor has also seen it first hand.

“This is not at all unusual in my experience. I’ve seen this combination coming back from the lab,” says Belchetz of pot and fentanyl.

Some dealers may be adding the opioid to differentiate themselves, he explains. But it’s a dangerous marketing scheme — and one hidden from their unsuspecting customers.

“If you at all value your health and want to know what you’re ingesting, don’t buy drugs off the street,” the doctor insists.

“The risk can very, very easily be fatal.”

mmandel@postmedia.com