Saskatoon Police and Weyburn Police have both come forward warning people about fentanyl-laced cocaine in their communities. And it's something we should be taking seriously here in and around Estevan as well. 

"This is something that we certainly have had discussions about for many, many months," explained Police Chief, Paul Ladouceur. "We're seeing a trend of fentanyl moving from the west to the east. It was heavily noted in BC and then we saw it in Alberta and now the natural course of progression where it's coming into this province."

"Our officers are equipped with Naloxone spray in preparation for this because we predicted it would be coming."

"Should we be concerned? I would say absolutely we should be concerned. When we look at the number of deaths that are occurring as a result of fentanyl and the fact that we've seen numerous drugs mixed fentanyl across the country, it would be completely irresponsible for us to think we're immune to that."

"We are cautioning people to be well aware of what you're taking and be mindful that this is happening. This isn't a story that we're reading about in some far off place, this is happening here in our province. There's a good chance that if there is this drug that's been laced with fentanyl in all these other cities in the province, I think it's probably pretty safe to assume that there could potentially be some in this city as well."

"We cautioned people numerous times about the dangers of street drugs and about the dangers of not knowing what's mixed with those drugs. It's a very, very dangerous time to be consuming street drugs because you just don't know what's being included with them."

"Let's be honest, dealers don't care. They're selling this stuff, essentially they're selling death when they're selling fentanyl-laced products."

Many police services around the province have allowed people to bring in their street drugs without fear of charges if they fear they could be laced with fentanyl.

"If there is someone who has cocaine that they believe is laced with fentanyl, please, please, please turn it in. This is not a case where we're looking to charge people, this is a public safety issue and we want to make sure nobody dies from this."

"It's looking at the people who are trafficking this stuff. That's the real concern especially if they're knowingly trafficking it. At the end of the day, we don't want to see people dying here."

"We realize that addictions are hard things to overcome. People fall into addictions for a number of different reasons whether it be mental health, whether it be issues going on in their personal lives so it's not a case of pointing fingers, it's a case of making people well aware that if you are using street drugs, be very, very cautious that in today's world, you just don't know what you're taking."