Street drug 10,000 times stronger than morphine arrives in Canada

published on February 18, 2016 in City News

Move over fentanyl, there’s a new drug on the street – and it’s an estimated 10,000 times stronger than morphine.

The drug is called W-18, and CBC News reports that the first seizure of the drug occurred last month in Calgary, prompting the city’s police to put out a warning.

“I can guarantee you, there’s got to be more out there,” Calgary Staff Sgt. Jason Walker told CBC. “We just haven’t seen it yet.”

W-18 is estimated to be 100 times more potent than fentanyl, which is estimated to be 100 times more potent than morphine.

Fentanyl has been considered the “biggest drug trend” of recent memory, with 655 deaths blamed on the drug between 2009 and 2014.

And with fentanyl booming in Toronto, it’s only a matter of time before we start seeing reports of W-18 appearing on city streets, too.

The biggest problem with W-18, however, is how potent laboratories produce the drug. The margin for error in making a pill that is deadly is microscopically small.

“You’d need very sophisticated measures to be able to produce a street drug that didn’t just kill people that were using it,” said Dr. Evan Wood, Vancouver Coastal Health director for addiction services.