WINNIPEG - Police in Winnipeg are warning of a growing drug problem that they say is spreading across Canada.
Officers recently raided a hotel in the city's west end and seized 1,477 doses of carfentanil -- a synthetic drug 100 times more powerful than fentanyl.
Deputy police Chief Danny Smyth says Winnipeg is seeing problems similar to cities such as Vancouver and Calgary, where larger doses of the emerging drug have been seized.
Carfentanil was developed to sedate large animals, such as elephants, and is often mixed with other drugs such as cocaine and crystal meth.
A Winnipeg mother whose son died of a fentanyl overdose two years ago says that could happen to anyone.
Arlene Last-Kolb says people need to become more aware of the dangers of opioids and how even a small amount can be fatal.
