A drug used to tranquilize large animals has contributed to the overdose death of a person whose body was found outside of a Windsor home almost three months ago.
On June 9, 2017 at around 7:50am, officers responded to a home on Dougall Ave. near Elliott St. after a dead body was discovered outside by the homeowner.
The Windsor Police Service says it was recently notified by the coroner that the cause of death was a drug overdose, and that the person had an extremely large dose of carfentanil and methamphetamine in their body. A white substance found on and around the body was sent to Health Canada for analysis and was determined to be methamphetamine and oxycodone.
This is the city's first carfentanil-related overdose death, according to police.
"Carfentanil is an extremely dangerous drug frequently used to tranquilize large animals such as elephants," police say in a news release. "A mere few milligrams can be lethal to humans. It is said to be 10,000 times more potent than morphine, and 100 times more potent than fentanyl... Whether the drug is ingested, injected, or inhaled -- carfentanil will kill you."
Police say the drug can be mixed with other substances by dealers without the user's knowledge.
-With files from Maureen Revait
