EDMONTON — Health Canada says it is moving quickly to include the dangerous synthetic opioid W-18 under the federal Controlled Drug and Substances Act but maintains the drug is already illegal under another law.
The department says it considers W-18, which police say is 100 times more powerful and toxic than fentanyl, to be a new psychoactive substance after testing two samples from Alberta.
The Alberta government has been urging Ottawa to take action after police in Edmonton seized four kilograms of W-18 in December.
Police have said there was enough of the white powdery drug to make millions of pills and Alberta officials sent out a warning to front-line health staff to watch for a possible increase in overdoses.
There were 272 fentanyl-related deaths in Alberta last year and health officials in the province consider W-18 to be more dangerous.
Health Canada says it is moving to treat W-18 as a Schedule 1 drug, which would make its unauthorized use illegal under the Act.
"This would result in imposing restrictions like those for other opioids, such as fentanyl and heroin," Rebecca Gilman, a Health Canada spokeswoman, wrote in an email Thursday.
Gilman did not indicate when the designation would take effect.
In the meantime, Health Canada said W-18 is not an authorized drug for human consumption under the Food and Drugs Act, "and as such its sale and distribution is illegal in Canada."
Small amounts of W-18 have previously been found in Calgary and British Columbia.
Health Canada's website says W-18 was developed as a painkiller and was patented in Canada and the United States in 1984.
The website says W-18 has never been marketed commercially and there is no known evidence demonstrating that W-18 has any actual or potential uses apart from scientific research.
Police suspect W-18 is being brought into Canada from offshore.
Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley said police and health officials are worried about W-18 because criminals can mix it with other drugs.
She said it is important for governments and police to get ahead of this drug before it becomes more widely distributed.
"Very small amounts of the substance can kill you," Ganley said Thursday.
"The public really needs to understand that this can be in anything, that it is incredibly potent, it is incredibly lethal."
