N.S. RCMP issue alert about poisoned street drugs following two overdose deaths

Nova Scotia RCMP say two men died of suspected drug overdoses Friday morning in Springhill, N.S., and officials are concerned other people in the area may have access to the same illicit drugs that killed the men.

The deaths happened in two separate homes, but police think they could have been caused by the same tainted drug supply.

In a news release, RCMP said they found "a small quantity" of unidentified pills and powder, and drug paraphernalia at one of the scenes.

Const. Dominic Laflamme said in an interview that police have not yet identified the drugs, but believe they contained fentanyl. 

People in Cumberland County received an emergency alert Friday afternoon because of the deaths, warning of "the dangers associated with illicit drug use."

"Street drugs often contain unknown substances and may be of various strengths or dosage," the alert said.

Laflamme said Cumberland County District RCMP and the province's Emergency Management Office decided together to issue the alert.

"They believe that they might have other people with that kind of drugs in the area, so they wanted to make sure that people knew about it and just to prevent other deaths or really bad situations like we just encountered this morning," said Laflamme.

Anyone experiencing an opioid overdose should go to a hospital, even if they have received naloxone, which is only a temporary antidote to overdose.