Fredericton street drug warning heeded across New Brunswick

A warning from the Fredericton Police Force about a dangerous drug linked to a recent fatal overdose is being heeded across New Brunswick.

The drug bromazolam appeared for the first time in North American street drugs a few years ago, often mixed with meth and fentanyl. The synthetic drug was created in the 1970s, but was never approved for medical use.

An advisory on Tuesday from Fredericton police said there was evidence bromazolam was in the city’s illicit drug supply.

“If it’s in Fredericton, people throughout the province are using it. That’s just a given,” says Julie Dingwell of Avenue B Harm Reduction in Saint John. “There’s no drug that just stays in one area, it goes throughout the province.”

Dingwell says the warning from Fredericton police is helpful in alerting people beyond the capital region.

“It alerts (frontline services), too. Even if we know that it’s already going on, it’s another opportunity to talk with people,” says Dingwell. “All of our staff today will be talking to people more about these (benzodiazepines) and how to keep better care of themselves, how to test their drug, doing just a little at a time.”

Dingwell says the most important harm reduction message for anybody using drugs is to never use alone.

“They’re most in danger of dying if they use alone,” Dingwell says.

The Fredericton Police Force is also urging people to never use drugs alone, as well as always call 911 for any overdose incident.

“The Good Samaritan Overdose Act does apply, so anyone experiencing an overdose or anyone assisting someone who is experiencing an overdose, they’re not subject to any legal or criminal charges after the fact,” says Sonya Gilks, spokesperson for the Fredericton Police Force.

Bromazalam is able to resist emergency treatments for opioid overdoses such as NARCAN.

“Bromazalam and fentanyl are both respiratory suppressants, and people’s heart rate drop so low that they don’t breath anymore,” says Dingwell. “We used to be able to give one shot of NARCAN and people would come around. With these new drugs sometimes it takes three or four shots, or more.”

Between July and November 2022, New Brunswick’s Department of Health said bromazolam was linked to the sudden deaths of nine people. At that time, the department said it was the first indication of bromazolam in the province. 

For more New Brunswick news, visit our dedicated provincial page.