Saskatoon Police suspect that the powerful opioid fentanyl is behind three overdoses they were called to this weekend.

Officers were called to five overdoses in a 30-hour span. One person, a woman, died.

The overdose-reversing drug naloxone was administered at the scene but she was pronounced dead at the hospital. Police do not yet know what type of drug she had taken.

Saskatoon police Supt. Dave Haye said they are waiting for the coroner's toxicology report.

But the type of drug in three of the overdoses is believed to have been an opioid, police spokesperson Kelsie Fraser wrote in an email.

"Initial responding officers received information that it was fentanyl being consumed. One call is now suspected to be intoxication and a health issue, and a second is suspected to be another type of drug."

Haye said there were four other overdoses between Sept. 8-15 bringing the number for the week to nine.

Haye said the overdoses occurred all over the city and they don't know if the drugs came from a single source.

"We haven't been able to link the trafficking of the illicit substance to any particular person or any particular group," he said.

Police would not say if they had any suspects identified, because the investigation is ongoing.

Haye said the people that overdosed from fentanyl knew what they were taking, unlike when four people died after taking cocaine laced with fentanyl on March 10, 2018.

Three people were charged with manslaughter in those deaths.

Naloxone

Police carry naloxone with them.

Haye said an officer administered it to one of the victims on the weekend who survived.

He said it was out of the ordinary to have five incidents in a 30-hour period, which led to police releasing a public warning.

But Tim Hillier, deputy chief of professional standards with Medavie Health Services West in Saskatoon, says there was nothing unusual about the number of calls.

"We see overdoses pretty much every day in the city," he said.

"I think the concern that [police] had in this case was they had a death. That's always a concern when that happens."

Hillier says Medavie is not ramping up its services to deal with drug overdoses because it's already done that.

"This is the new normal. We see a lot of these things."

Haye said people who suffer overdoses are often taking multiple drugs.

"That's not uncommon, and it's not uncommon for officers when they do investigations to seize from people trafficking multiple types of drugs.

He said when it comes to illicit drugs, especially fentanyl, people are rolling the dice with their lives.

"Fentanyl is always mixed with something else. So whether you get a hot fentanyl load or a normal fentanyl load it's always a bit of a gamble, right?"

Haye urged anyone who witnesses an overdose or is having an overdose to call 911.

He said you have protections under the federal Good Samaritan Act.

"One of them is we won't charge you with possession of the drug," he said. "If you're bound by a court order and you're breaching that order, there's no charges there. So there's very little reason not to call the police or engage with emergency medical services."

Haye said even if you are given naloxone and feel better, you should still go to the hospital.

"Naloxone is temporary and the opioid is still in your body, and it's still acting on your brain and you could still die."