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Fentanyl, an opioid pain reliever, is “20 to 40 times more potent than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, which makes the risk of accidental overdose very high,” as reported by Government of Canada. It is odourless, tasteless and invisible to the naked eye.

“Canada’s illegal drug supply is being contaminated with illegal fentanyl and other fentanyl-like drugs (e.g. carfentanil). Fentanyl is a cheap way for drug dealers to make street drugs more powerful, and it is causing high rates of overdoses and overdose deaths,” said the report.

Prior to switching to medical cannabis, which he has been on for the past six weeks, the now-recovering adult spent six months in an intensive rehab program at Portage Elora Drug Addiction Rehabilitation Centre for Youth from Mar. to Sept. 2017.

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Can medical cannabis be the solution?

From Jan. to June 2018, Health Canada reported there were 2,066 apparent opioid-related deaths; 94 percent of these were accidental. “The data also indicate that fentanyl and other fentanyl-related substances continue to be a major driver of this crisis,” Health Canada notes.

It’s when presented with personal stories like that of the Rhodes family and the stream of alarming data that the significance of Tetra Bio-Pharma’s (TBP) clinical trials is worth exploring.

TBP confirms the company is investigating its PPP001 drug—a smokable cannabis drug product in compressed pellet form produced at its facility in Moncton—as an alternative to the opioid fentanyl in the management of breakthrough cancer pain. The cannabis-based drugs being investigated will have a Drug Identification Number (DIN), not only that but these medications will also be available at the pharmacy and will be covered by insurance.

“For me, at this point, the idea that cannabinoids have the potential to save the route to opioids alone is a significant contribution to medicine,” says Guy Chamberland, CEO and chief scientific officer at TBP, headquartered in Orleans, Ont. This is one of the five clinical trials—including investigational trials for advanced cancer pain, a head-to-head trial comparing cannabis to fentanyl in breakthrough cancer pain, fibromyalgia and chronic pain—being funded by TBP that have received a nod from Health Canada.