A substance used as an animal tranquilizer by veterinarians is likely at the heart of the twenty drug overdoses that occurred over two days in Belleville, Ontario, last week.
According to drug analyzes conducted by Hastings Prince Edward Public Health obtained by CP24, the samples contained an opioid and two relaxing substances, benzodiazepine and xylazine.
This cocktail of substances has the effect of slowing down the primary functions of the body, including breathing, heart rate or blood pressure, also causing difficulty in moving or swallowing, the channel detailed.
If benzodiazepine is used to treat certain disorders such as sleep disorders or linked to epilepsy, xylazine is used as an analgesic in veterinary medicine.
According to Health Canada, however, this substance is increasingly detected in the drug samples it analyzes, particularly in Ontario. Xylazine can cause fatigue or loss of consciousness, respiratory depression, bradycardia, hypotension, hyperglycemia and miosis, lists the government in a fact sheet dedicated to it.
On February 6, Belleville had to ask its population to avoid the city center following 17 overdoses in 24 hours, including 14 between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Traffic even had to be redirected to leave the way clear for emergency services. In total, 23 overdoses were recorded in the city of barely 50,000 inhabitants in two days.
In the process, the City had to declare a state of emergency.
Earlier this week, Mayor Neil Ellis called on the provincial government for funding to help drug users and people experiencing homelessness, as well as funding for a local drug treatment center.