‘Disturbing’ scenes, record overdoses, as powerful sedative hits B.C. drug supply

VANCOUVER — Last weekend, frontline health workers in Trail, B.C., reported “disturbing” scenes to Dr. Karin Goodison, medical health officer with Interior Health.

She said workers were finding about 20 people unconscious each night, “lying out in the cold in the street,” and suffering memory loss due to overdoses.

Goodison said the workers with years of experience described it as the worst situation they had ever seen.

“It’s very disturbing to workers who’ve been doing this work on the front line for a long time, and they’re describing this as very unusual,” said Goodison.

The overdose victims are suspected to have succumbed to the veterinary sedative medetomidine, which the B.C. Centre for Disease Control says is a new substance in the unregulated drug supply, prompting it to send out a rare provincewide drug alert on Monday.

BC Emergency Health Services said paramedics responded to a record 256 overdoses in B.C. on Jan. 21. It said it didn’t have data about how many proved fatal.

The BCCDC said medetomidine was being mixed with opioids including fentanyl, causing low heart rate, changes to blood pressure, and prolonged sedation.

“They are acting very oddly, and it’s very traumatic for people around them to see it, and very dangerous for that person themselves,” Goodison said, noting that workers don’t have any medication to reverse the drug’s impact.

Dr. Alexis Crabtree, medical lead for harm reduction and substance use services at the BCCDC, said they are “worried especially” about metatodomine after the recent spike in 911 calls.

They’ve also noticed metatodomine becoming more prevalent in samples of B.C.’s drug supply.

The centre said medetomidine was detected in 38 per cent of opioid samples checked by the BC Centre on Substance Use in November. Crabtree said that was “quite high” compared to a year ago, when they rarely saw it.

“It’s become much more widespread and common in many different areas of the province, rather than just in one area,” said Crabtree.

Prevalence differed in some areas — in Fraser Health, medetomidine was found in 52.2 per cent of samples.

Crabtree said medetomidine was not just a problem in B.C., noting that it was already common in Ontario and the United States.

Reports from communities were shifting, with front line workers seeing symptoms of prolonged sedation, ongoing sleepiness, and low heart rate, said Crabtree.

“I think we’re always trying to keep up with changes in the drug supply, and we have to follow very carefully to know what’s happening and be able to give people advice about what to do. It is a big challenge as new things emerge in the drug supply,” said Crabtree.

Victoria Police on Wednesday warned of overdoses related to medetomidine, saying officers had responded to 15 non-fatal overdoses in the previous 24 hours linked to the drug.

Crabtree said it was difficult to say why there is a rise in the use of metatomidine in the illicit drug supply.

One theory is that it provides a longer experience than fentanyl, she said. It might also be cheaper for the producer.

Crabtree said that regardless of the reason, people who use substances are exposed to an “increasingly complex drug supply.”

Drug deaths have been falling steadily in B.C. since peaking at 2,589 in 2023, with a record 242 people dying that December. There were 150 deaths in October 2025.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan, 29, 2026.