Collingwood police officers arrested a local woman on charges related to drug trafficking on the same day they also responded to three opioid overdoses in the community.
On June 28, Collingwood's Ontario Provincial Police officers responded to an afternoon call about a suspicious female and vehicle parked at the Second Street dog park. Police seized 20 grams of fentanyl and cocaine in their search of the woman and the vehicle, along with more than $1,000 cash.
A 35-year-old Collingwood woman was arrested and charged with possession of cocaine and fentanyl for the purposes of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime, states a news release issued by Collingwood OPP.
Const. Trevor McKean, media relations officer for the Collingwood/Blue Mountains OPP, confirmed there were also at least three non-fatal opioid overdoses, suspected to have been fentanyl overdoses, that day in Collingwood. First responders administered naloxone in each case.
Police are not, however, releasing the name of the woman who was arrested on June 28, because there isn't evidence to link the drugs she was selling to the overdoses on the same day.
"The link is the risk to the community, not that she sold [or did not sell] the drugs to the people who overdosed," said McKean.
The woman was held for a bail hearing and will face the charges later before the Ontario Court of Justice in Collingwood.
McKean and Collingwood/Blue Mountains OPP are warning the public of the dangers of fentanyl and other street drugs, which are being sold in Collingwood, and which can be fatal in very small doses.
For more information, visit www.opp.ca/overdose.
More information on symptoms and responding to an opioid overdose can be found on Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit's website at www.smdhu.org/opioids.
If you suspect an overdose, stay, call 9-1-1 and save a life.
Anyone with information about any criminal activity is asked to contact the Collingwood and The Blue Mountains OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers to remain anonymous at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477) or https://ontariocrimestoppers.
