We wouldn’t bat an eye if there had been a seizure of a clandestine amphetamine or methamphetamine laboratory in the province of Quebec, maybe we would have written an article about it to let the public know. That type of event happens nearly five to ten times a year, sometimes, even more. We’ve also seen benzodiazepine labs in the past as well as ecstasy laboratories.
This time, the chemical produced differentiates from the latter. While amphetamines, benzos and ecstasy are considered fairly ‘intermediate’ level drugs in the province, opiates are not. They’re deemed as a ‘hard’ drug. Especially protonitazepyne. As for many readers, even we are unfamiliar with this opiate that is known to be 25 times more powerful than fentanyl. Manufacturers are finding more and more substances that vary from the main molecule of the drug that are considered staples in the recreational world. Protonitazepyne is considered one of them.
The pills were marked M30. Blue, circular pills meant to represent oxycodone but have much more bang for your buck, sometimes, even deadly. It is likely the most forged pill of all time in the modern western world, the blue M30 has sometimes been cut with fentanyl in the past. When that era passed, it was all over the news. Things are changing, illicit drug manufacturers are becoming wiser, figuring out how to process other recipes consisting of other molecules. Such was the case when the RCMP reigned down on a clandestine Drummondville lab in Central Quebec last Friday.
The operation took place on the 106th Avenue of Drummondville. Right in the middle of a residential sector, neighboring three separate schools. The RCMP seized hundreds of thousands of these pills, all packed in freeze-dried bags while executing their search warrant. The drug is apparently 25 times stronger than fentanyl and 40 times stronger than heroin, but as we have seen in the past with the introduction of fentanyl, this can be a case of give and take. Many chemicals were seized that were prominent to the production of this drug on a large-scale.
The RCMP on the east of the province of Quebec has been working on this case since May. They put the operation in effect on the 31st of July which they worked overnight until the day of the 1st of August to execute this stint. Along with the residence on the 106th Avenue of Sherbrooke, 3 other residences were part of this seizure. These residences were located in Sherbrooke and Dixville.
