{"id":107983,"date":"2026-08-19T13:49:56","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:49:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107983"},"modified":"2026-08-19T13:49:56","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T17:49:56","slug":"dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\/","title":{"rendered":"Dangerous veterinary drug being added to fentanyl"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Joe O\u2019Grady, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Temiskaming Speaker TEMISKAMING SHORES &#8211; Health agencies in the region are continuing to warn illicit drug users about a dangerous veterinary sedative being added to street fentanyl. Timiskaming First Nation Health and Wellness Centre is the latest agency to sound the alarm over medetomidine, a &#8220;new and dangerous&#8221; veterinary sedative which is &#8220;significantly increasing the risk of overdose and severe withdrawal.&#8221; Not only is the sedative not approved for human use, it causes deep sedation and slowed breathing, and is not reversed by naloxone and has no known antidote. Northeastern Public Health (NEPH) is also warning users of street drugs about the danger, having issued a red drug alert. &#8220;While we cannot comment on current supply specifics and results derived from drug testing,&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F19%2Fdangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Joe O\u2019Grady, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Temiskaming Speaker TEMISKAMING SHORES &#8211; Health agencies in the region are continuing to warn illicit drug users about a dangerous veterinary sedative being added to street fentanyl. Timiskaming First Nation Health and Wellness Centre is the latest agency to sound the alarm over medetomidine, a &#8220;new and dangerous&#8221; veterinary sedative which is &#8220;significantly increasing the risk of overdose and severe withdrawal.&#8221; Not only is the sedative not approved for human use, it causes deep sedation and slowed breathing, and is not reversed by naloxone and has no known antidote. Northeastern Public Health (NEPH) is also warning users of street drugs about the danger, having issued a red drug alert. &#8220;While we cannot comment on current supply specifics and results derived from drug testing,... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F08%2F19%2Fdangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107983","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dangerous veterinary drug being added to fentanyl - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dangerous veterinary drug being added to fentanyl - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Joe O\u2019Grady, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Temiskaming Speaker TEMISKAMING SHORES &#8211; Health agencies in the region are continuing to warn illicit drug users about a dangerous veterinary sedative being added to street fentanyl. Timiskaming First Nation Health and Wellness Centre is the latest agency to sound the alarm over medetomidine, a &#8220;new and dangerous&#8221; veterinary sedative which is &#8220;significantly increasing the risk of overdose and severe withdrawal.&#8221; Not only is the sedative not approved for human use, it causes deep sedation and slowed breathing, and is not reversed by naloxone and has no known antidote. Northeastern Public Health (NEPH) is also warning users of street drugs about the danger, having issued a red drug alert. &#8220;While we cannot comment on current supply specifics and results derived from drug testing,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/19\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-08-19T17:49:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/19\\\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/19\\\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Dangerous veterinary drug being added to fentanyl\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-08-19T17:49:56+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/19\\\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":497,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/19\\\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/19\\\/dangerous-veterinary-drug-being-added-to-fentanyl\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dangerous veterinary drug being added to fentanyl - 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