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It’s such a silent killer that nobody knows about

Parents like the Dolmans are discovering there are two terrifying things about illicit or bootleg fentanyl: users often don’t even know they’ve consumed it — or what potency — and overdoses can mimic a deep sleep, masking the need for immediate medical attention. A sleep from which you never wake up.

“That’s the biggest thing I want to get across,” says Dolman, mother of three other grown children. “It’s such a silent killer that nobody knows about.”

This is what happened to Neil, who worked as an interlock landscaper in summer and at snow removal in the winter.

Sandi says Neil, who was living with them in North Gower, showed up at a house in Ottawa on the morning of April 1 to meet with a friend and co-worker who did counter-top work.

It was early, about 6:30, she said, and it appears Neil may have been up all night. (To this day, his last hours are something of a blank.) He seemed fine but overly tired, she said, and fell into a deep sleep on a couch. He could not be woken about 90 minutes later and, at the next check before noon, there was a small amount of blood near his nose. He was gone.

The autopsy found 26 nanograms of fentanyl per millilitre of blood, about eight times levels that are potentially fatal. There was also a trace of cocaine. Sandi believes her son was only an occasional drug user who was sold or given cocaine laced with a highly potent mix of fentanyl.

“We know he had no idea. If he had any idea, he would have stayed away from it. He did not want to die this way.”