Ridge Meadows RCMP made a small dint in the street drug supply after stopping a Vancouver couple on 203rd Street and Dewdney Trunk Road, Friday.
Police seized what they suspect to be crack cocaine, powder cocaine, fentanyl, and heroin from a man and a woman. Charges of possession for the purpose of trafficking are being recommended against the couple from Vancouver.
Police said they seized a little less than half a gram of heroin and several green pills that they suspect to be fentanyl.
There were also 11 packs of cocaine, individually wrapped, working out to about three grams.
“Are we talking pounds or kilograms? No we’re not, but when they’re all individually wrapped like that, this is indications of a dial-a-doper going out and making a delivery,” said RCMP civilian media spokesman Dan Herbranson.
He said fentanyl that can be manufactured as a synthetic heroin, but is 100 times more powerful and dangerous.
“You’re putting your life in the hands of a backyard chemist. Do they really know what they’re doing? Well that’s always up for debate at the best of times.”
He added that fentanyl can be absorbed through the skin. “You don’t have to ingest it with a needle or smoking. You can just put it in your hand and it will absorb into your blood stream.”
According to the coroner, from January to May in B.C. this year there have been 54 fentanyl-related deaths. In Metro Vancouver last month alone, 12 people have died.