What is fentanyl?
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Fentanyl is an opioid medication administered or prescribed by medical professionals for management of severe pain. Legal fentanyl is produced under strict guidelines with high standards for accurate dosing.
Illicit fentanyl is produced in clandestine labs often with few or no guidelines, safety regulations, or quality controls. The potency of doses is inconsistent which causes the effects to be highly unpredictable and often leads to overdose.
Naloxone
Naloxone is a drug that can temporarily reverse the effects of an opioid overdose. It is important to seek further medical attention immediately.
If you suspect an overdose, call 9-1-1 immediately. Administer naloxone if available.
Tips for speaking with youth
- Educate them about the harms and consequences of taking non-prescribed drugs
- Maintain a calm, two-way conversation
- Try not to lecture, threaten, or judge them
- Discuss peer pressure and ways to say no to drugs
Questions and answers
- What stats are available on fentanyl seizures? E.g., total amount of seizures, number of lab takedowns, breakdowns per province
- The RCMP is currently working with policing partners to provide national statistics relating to fentanyl seizures, as well as clandestine laboratory takedowns across Canada. The task of accurately reflecting the work done in these areas is complex as investigations are multifaceted and different records management systems are used across multiple jurisdictions. The RCMP is leveraging the investment provided by the Government of Canada to set up a Joint Operations and Intelligence Cell (JOIC) which will enable us, and our enforcement partners, to reflect the fentanyl enforcement data in a more comprehensive and accurate way. We will provide an update at the earliest opportunity.
- How many people have been arrested in connection with the sale or trafficking of fentanyl?
- These types of arrests would be conducted by police of jurisdiction. All police agencies in Canada use the Uniform Crime Reporting survey when recording offences that are entered into records management systems. The public can request specific Uniform Crime Reporting data from Statistics Canada.
- Where is fentanyl produced in Canada? Who produces it?
- While evidence confirms that synthetic drugs, including fentanyl, are being produced domestically in Canada, no single organized crime group dominates fentanyl production and trafficking nor does any one area of the country. For the security and integrity of ongoing investigations, we cannot provide further details.
- Where is Canadian fentanyl sent to?
- We see that Canadian-produced fentanyl is mainly intended for domestic consumption.
- How much Canadian fentanyl is trafficked into the United States?
- Generally, enforcement actions on both sides of the border do not indicate that Canada is the source country for significant amounts of fentanyl into the United States.
- What is the RCMP doing to address the fentanyl crisis?
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The RCMP continues to work closely with domestic and international partners, including law enforcement agencies in the U.S. to disrupt and dismantle the trafficking of opioids which is having devastating impacts in communities on both sides of the border.
More specifically, the RCMP has implemented a Fentanyl Strike Force to target fentanyl importers, distributors, manufacturers and traffickers. The strategy is designed to disrupt, dismantle and prosecute criminal networks.
Working with partners is essential in the fight against illicit drugs. As such, the RCMP works with provincial, national, and international law enforcement partners, as well as other government entities (e.g., Canada Post and CBSA), to ensure a coordinated response to reduce the flow of illicit drugs within and outside of Canada. Intelligence sharing (e.g. North American Drug Dialogue forum) and operational engagement with Five Eyes and other foreign partners also continue to enable successful action against Transnational Serious and Organized Crime groups in Canada and internationally.
For example:
- Canada and the US have come together to form the Opioids Action Plan, seeking solutions to the ongoing crisis and reducing substance-related harms. The Opioids Action Plan places priorities on disrupting and dismantling the trafficking of opioids by increasing co-operation between law enforcement and border security, as well as sharing important information and best practices between both countries.
- The RCMP and the DEA collaborate and share information through the Fentanyl Task Force to disrupt illicit production and distribution of fentanyl, in response to a recommendation from the Cross-Border Crime Forum.
- Leaders from Canada, US and Mexico established the Trilateral Fentanyl Committee at the North American Leaders Summit in early 2023, expanding priority actions in response to the threat of illicit fentanyl in North America. The priorities include expanding the prosecution of drug traffickers and dismantling criminal networks, targeting the supply of precursor chemicals, preventing cross-border trafficking in North America, and promoting public health services to reduce demand and harm.
- How are precursor chemicals sourced?
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Recent trends in Canada related to fentanyl and other excipients, including xylazine, confirms that these chemicals are being imported and then diverted domestically, or smuggled into Canada. The trend also identifies that several countries in Asia, and the Americas, including the US and Mexico, are regularly being used as trans-shipment routes to facilitate the entry to Canada. These chemicals are being used domestically to fuel our domestic production. Most of the large seizures of fentanyl in Canada can be linked to domestic production.
Precursor and essential chemicals can be easily miss-labelled and smuggled into the country. Often, these chemicals enter Canada legally to support industry in the production of legal goods and products available for domestic use and international trade. The regulated chemicals under the Precursor Control Regulations of the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act are more tightly controlled but again, the opportunity to miss-labelling while in transit between the originating country and Canada provides an open door to smuggling if not detected at our borders.
- Is the RCMP doing anything to disrupt the illicit drug trade by targeting precursor chemicals?
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The RCMP is committed to detecting, investigating, and disrupting the most significant criminal threats to public safety in Canada, including the illicit fentanyl market. Its intelligence and investigative efforts target all aspects of the illicit drug market to disrupt the involvement of key transnational serious organized crime groups in the production, trafficking, and sale of drugs, such as fentanyl.
To address the domestic synthetic drug situation, the RCMP's National Chemical Precursor Diversion Program works with Canadian stakeholders in the industry to prevent the diversion of precursors and essential chemicals from legitimate industry to illicit production. In addition, the RCMP operates Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response (CLEAR) teams across Canada, which target organized crime groups involved in the production of illegal substances, including fentanyl, as well as providing specialized support to local law enforcement in detecting and dismantling clandestine drug laboratories.
Additional resources
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