Cocaine is killing more people in Newfoundland and Labrador than fentanyl, police say

RCMP Superintendent Stefan Thoms, left to right, Dr. Nash Denic, Chief Medical Examiner for the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador, RCMP Staff Sgt. Dave Emberley, and Jane Henderson, provincial harm reduction consultant, appear at a news conference regarding an increase in cocaine toxicity deaths in the province, at RCMP headquarters in St. John's, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Daly

ST. JOHN’S — Authorities in Newfoundland and Labrador say highly potent cocaine is circulating in the province, and killing more people than fentanyl.

Figures supplied today by the province’s chief medical examiner’s office show 43 people died of cocaine toxicity last year compared with 20 from fentanyl and eight from a combination of the drugs.

RCMP Insp. David Emberley says cocaine recently seized in the province was found to be more than 90 per cent pure — a potency he described as “alarming and highly toxic.”

Emberley says cocaine that pure is typically sold by the kilogram and diluted with other substances before it is consumed.

He says that until two or three years ago, purity rates for street-level cocaine seized in the province were typically between 15 and 20 per cent.

Dr. Nash Denic, the province’s chief medical examiner, says three teenagers have died from drug toxicity so far this year in confirmed or suspected cases of Xanax or Dilaudid contaminated with protonitazene, a synthetic opioid.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2025

The Canadian Press