‘Like drinking pesticide’: health expert, police explain 2C-B
When Prince Albert police encountered the synthetic drug 2C-B for the first time last month, six people were taken to hospital. According to a local medical health officer, the victims may have been lucky to survive.
Police were called to a P.A. home to assist Parkland Ambulance with an overdose call on Feb 20. When they arrived, officers and EMTs discovered six people suffering overdose symptoms. All six victims were taken to hospital for treatment, and police immediately opened an investigation to determine exactly what they were dealing with.
The Integrated Street Enforcement Team, which is comprised of city police and RCMP officers, raided an 11th St. E. residence the next day. Officers arrested a 19-year-old suspect and seized a number of unknown substances. Police identified one of the seized drugs as 4-bromo-2 5-dimethoxyphenethylamine, the synthetic psychedelic commonly known as 2C-B or “nexus.”
Police in Prince Albert, accustomed to dealing with crystal meth, cocaine and opioid overdoses, have never encountered 2C-B before. A spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police Service said they were equally unfamiliar with the synthetic drug, but noted that does not necessarily mean the city is free of 2C-B.