Laura Bajurny from the Alcohol and Drug Foundation says recreational drug users need to exercise extreme caution, as Fentanyl is now being used to cut party drugs like ecstasy and MDMA
Australian revellers are being issued a grave warning about recreational drugs as festival season approaches, with experts claiming dealers are using deadly Fentanyl to cut cheaper ‘party drugs’.
Fentanyl, a wholly synthetic opiod pain medication, has sparked a public health crisis in Canada, with 1,002 overdose deaths recorded in the past 10 months involving the drug.
The Department of Immigration and Border Protection claims around 30 international shipments of the drug have entered Australia in the past 18 months, and the drug has been linked to 10 overdose deaths in Melbourne.
Laura Bajurny, a spokeswoman for the Alcohol and Drug Foundation, said there are not yet any confirmed cases of Fentanyl being cut into recreational drugs in Australia, but traces of it were found in ‘everything but cannabis’ in Canada.
‘Police in Vancouver are finding Fentanyl in everything: cocaine, ecstacy, GHB and MDMA,’ she said.
‘The NSW coroner and the drug and alcohol research centre have flagged concerns of a slow but steady increase in the usage in Australia.’
‘[A crisis the size of Canada’s] is not definite, but considering the devastating impacts in North America, I think it’s a very legitimate fear.’
Pictured: Fentanyl and heroin branded ‘Pray for Death’ that was sold in envelopes featuring a kneeling skeleton, found by authorities in the US
Fentanyl, a wholly synthetic opiod pain medication, has sparked a public health crisis in Canada, with 1,002 overdose deaths recorded in the past 10 months involving the drug
A police report from Canada said recreational users and young people were being exposed to ‘the same risk of death as addicted persons’ because of the prevalence of Fentanyl
Ms Bajurny said she believed many drug dealers in Canada were cutting Fentanyl into their drugs as a ‘cost cutting measure’.
‘Fentantyl is 100 times stronger than morphine, so when you’re talking about moving amounts of it, you need so little to get a significant dose,’ she said.
‘It’s less risky and it’s cheaper and easier.’
The spokeswoman explained that other than those using it under a prescription, more people were taking the drug by accident than were buying it to get a high.
‘It’s not considered a desirable drug – the people who are overdosing in Canada, chances are they have no idea what they’re taking,’ she said.
‘They don’t want it, they’re not asking for it – people aren’t going down and purchasing it.’
A report from the Vancouver Police Department said the addition of Fentanyl to other illicit drugs was: ‘exposing recreational users and young people experimenting with party drugs to the same risk of death as addicted persons’.
Fentanyl (pictured in envelopes after being seized from the home of an alleged dealer) is 100 times stronger than morphine
The most recent results of Australia’s National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program shows the consumption of Fentanyl, which could be legal or illegal, exceeded the use of cocaine and MDMA nationwide
Ms Bajurny said pill testing technology used in Europe needed to be brought in to Australian festivals to lessen the risk of drug spiking
The most recent results of Australia’s National Wastewater Drug Monitoring Program shows the consumption of Fentanyl, which could be legal or illegal, exceeded the use of cocaine and MDMA nationwide.
The report said Australians were consuming the drug at ‘concerning levels’, though there had been a drop in national capital city consumption.
Ms Bajurny told Daily Mail Australia she wanted recreational drug users to be aware the synthetic opiod could be found in their party drugs.
‘That’s the big lesson out of Canada, having found it in almost all recreational drugs,’ she said.
‘The Alcohol and Drug Foundation advocates for pill testing at festivals, and high-tech machinery like what’s used in Europe would be able to detect Fentanyl.’
She also urged people to become educated about what an overdose looks like, and how a person overdosing can be helped.
Ms Bajurny said if Naloxone, used in heroin overdoses, was carried by emergency workers and more readily available in places where drugs may be used, there could be a big reduction in risk.
‘A Fentanyl overdose is similar to other opiod overdoses,’ she said.
‘People will stop breathing, be unresponsive, they might turn blue, and might start to feel cold… the signalling between your brain and your body becomes so slow that your brain doesn’t get any oxygen.’
A lethal dose of Fentanyl is two milligrams.
A lethal dose of Fentanyl is only two milligrams, which could be easily slipped into another drug