Three drug overdoses within five hours in Sarnia has got the attention of Windsor police.
Wednesday night in Sarnia, one person died and two people were taken to the hospital. Police in Sarnia say the drug involved was thought to be cocaine but is now believed to have been laced with the dangerous opioid fentanyl.
Windsor police are reminding people that any street drug can contain fentanyl which can be deadly.
Constable Andrew Drouillard says police here have tried to be ahead of the curve with a public awareness campaign warning about the dangers of fentanyl.
Drouillard says the key is preventing the overdoses in the first place.
"Collectively as police services locally, provincially and across Canada, we have tried to be ahead of the curve in letting the public know about the dangers of Fentanyl," says Drouillard. "Just the fact that when you are dealing with street drugs, you just don't know what you are going to get."
He says there are a lot of unknowns when it comes to street drugs.
"You can get a mixture of a lot of things and in those mixtures it could be contained a potentially fatal dose of fentanyl," says Drouillard. "We have been trying to be ahead of the curve and let the public know that it is out there."
He says street drugs can contain a mixture of a lot of things.
"You just got to be aware that with street drugs that are out there they could have fentanyl in them and you have to careful," says Drouillard. "You just don't know what you are going to get when you are dealing with street drugs, you have to be careful."
Back in June, a public awareness campaign was launched aimed at high school students and students in grades 7 and 8 to increase awareness that fentanyl is 40 to 50 times more toxic than heroin.
Back in December 2016, 15 people were arrested as part of a 12-week undercover Windsor police investigation. The drugs seized included fentanyl so it is in the community.