Area law enforcement are renewing warnings about the danger of counterfeit OxyContin.
A recent investigation into cocaine trafficking by the St. Albert RCMP Drug Unit and the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) has led to the seizure of counterfeit OxyContin, believed to be Fentanyl.
This is the third seizure of the counterfeit pills, which bear similar physical characteristics to and are sold as OxyContin, since September.
OxyContin is a controlled-release prescription narcotic that is highly addictive.
Pills seized in September were found to contain Fentanyl, an opioid pain medication 100 times more potent than morphine.
For first time users or those who do not know the drug they are taking contains Fentanyl, the risk of overdose is high, says Insp. Darcy Strang with ALERT.
"Your risk is not just toxicity … your risk is that your body stops functioning. Your breathing stops, your body pretty much slows down and you die."
RCMP believe the fake OxyContin pills have been circulating in Edmonton and surrounding communities.
Charges laid
Along with the fake OxyContin, police seized several other illicit drugs upon executing a search warrant in a Grandin-area apartment on Oct. 30.
They found cocaine, psilocybin (a.k.a. magic mushrooms), marijuana and methylone (part of the designer drug family known as synthetic cathinones, which are found in "bath salts").
Tyler Kemps, 19, of St. Albert is facing two counts of trafficking a controlled substance, five counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and one count of possession of a controlled substance.
A woman is still being sought for questioning.
Kemps is scheduled to appear in St. Albert court on Dec. 15.
The St. Albert RCMP Drug Unit is interested in any information you may have about drug trafficking. Call the St. Albert RCMP Drug Tip Line at 780-460-DRUG (3784).
