The NWT’s chief public health officer issued a warning after ethylflualprazolam was detected in a whitish, grainy powder seized by police in late July.
The substance – often sold as counterfeit Xanax, and sometimes mixed with other illicit drugs, including cocaine, fentanyl, and fentanyl analogues – was found during an RCMP drug seizure in Yellowknife.
The GNWT said this was the first known detection of the drug in the territory, but it was identified in Canada last December by Toronto’s drug checking service and has since been reported in other provinces.
Ethylflualprazolam can cause “extreme drowsiness, long-lasting sedation, loss of coordination and memory loss,” a Thursday advisory said.
It was described as a high-potency new benzodiazepine related to alprazolam and has no approved medical use.
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As a relatively new substance, its health effects are not yet fully understood. Naloxone cannot reverse the effects of ethylflualprazolam.
“There are no visible warning signs that a drug contains other substances, and they cannot be detected by sight, smell, or taste,” said the GNWT, adding that mixing benzodiazepines with opioids can make the effects of the drug stronger and longer lasting.
Mixing benzodiazepines with opioids can also increase the risk of overdose and:
- increase and prolong sedation, leading to deep and extended drowsiness;
- reduce the effectiveness of naloxone, the medication used to temporarily reverse opioid overdoses; and
- cause serious breathing problems, unconsciousness, or death.
While naloxone won’t reverse a benzodiazepine overdose on its own, health officials advise to still use it, and that multiple doses of naloxone may be required.
Naloxone kits are available at all hospitals, health centres, pharmacies, and health boxes across the territory.
