VANCOUVER — RCMP officers will soon be carrying naloxone nasal spray to protect themselves against accidental contact with opioids such as potentially deadly fentanyl.
Commissioner Bob Paulson says the danger of the drug that has led to thousands of deaths across Canada cannot be overstated and anyone who even comes near fentanyl can become sick from inhaling it in its powder form or when it's absorbed through the skin.
The RCMP released a video Tuesday featuring two British Columbia officers who immediately felt the effects of fentanyl that was in the possession of people they'd interacted with while on the job.
Const. Rob Dupuis of Kamloops says in the video that he responded to a call about a young man who was slumped over in the driver's seat of a vehicle that had numerous narcotics in plain view.
Dupuis says he noticed a chemical smell and became nauseous and dizzy from what he later learned was fentanyl and that his heart rate and blood pressure were elevated when he went to hospital.
The RCMP says it will begin distributing naloxone kits to officers so they can use the drug on themselves or others in medical distress to reduce or reverse the effects of opioids.
