From deadly overdose scenes to dealers; Alberta police vow to track down criminals who play Russian roulette with lives

For the criminal, the deal is done when the cash is in their pocket.

But, far too often, when people end up overdosing — the transaction takes a tragic twist.

“We use the term predatory traffickers because they are predators, they are preying on some of the most vulnerable sections of our population and even people who are simply naive, thinking ‘This person is safe, they have sold to a friend of mine,'” says Calgary Police drug unit Staff Sgt. Lon Brewster. “You can’t trust a drug dealer. They are there to get money.”

When police are investigating an overdose, tracking down the dealer can be resource-intensive and time-consuming. 

Holding them accountable will not only offer some closure to families and friends left behind but potentially save the lives of others who may end up buying from the same dealer.

Since January of 2023, there have been more than 1,000 drug overdose deaths in Calgary.

“They’re everyone from every walk of life,” Brewster says. “A lot of times, I think the assumption people make is that these are individuals down on luck, living rough on the streets, in a certain lifestyle. In some cases, yeah, that’s the truth, but it’s also the case where sometimes it is the first time this person has tried that drug, not knowing it was actually fentanyl or some sort of opioid that caused that overdose.”

He says these days, drug traffickers are pushing a drug advertised as one thing when it is actually fentanyl or carfentanyl, or a substance that can be very harmful if not deadly to the person who consumes it.

The search starts at the overdose scene

Recently, tracking down the source of drugs believed to be behind a deadly overdose in the community of Stoney Nakoda Nation led Cochrane RCMP to Calgary. 

Working with police here, they seized fentanyl and methamphetamine and charged 58-year-old Randall Arsenault with numerous drug-trafficking-related charges.

Investigators could not confirm the origin of the drugs believed to have led to the death. But Mounties said the case “underscores the serious risks associated with the illegal drug trade in our communities” and commitment by RCMP and other policing agencies to hold drug traffickers accountable for putting the lives of others on the line.

The chase begins

Const. Sanjay Sachdev with the Cochrane Crime Reduction Unit said any sudden death is treated as a crime scene until it is proven not to be. Sometimes a fatal overdose puts them on the trail of a drug dealer.

“These overdoses are not easy for anyone to show up to and for the families and for us to combat that with some of the investigative techniques and partnerships with CPS and other agencies – that is our ultimate goal,” Sachdev says. “It’s very impactful for the family, and it’s really impactful for the policing community as well, for us to reach out to the family and give them some closure for a very traumatic time for them. 

“At the end of the day, with the opioid crisis and the drug epidemic that is causing a lot of these overdose deaths, there‘s a lot of questions left unanswered when (people) find their loved ones deceased,” he adds. “It doesn’t bring that person back, but at least it does offer them some answers.”

Bolstering resources

Brewster says patrol members and first responders look at what’s available at the scene, collecting potential evidence from photos to fingerprints and witness statements. 

They often do neighbourhood interviews to find out who last had contact with the individual who overdosed and information on people or vehicles coming and going – essentially anything that offers a path to an investigation.

“At the end of the day, we are investigating drug dealing. It’s trafficking an illicit substance that caused an overdose death,” he says. “They will sell anything to anyone. It’s all about the dollars and cents to them. They will get raw product from outside of the country, press it into pills with cutting agents, some of them toxic, whatever they can get their hands on to make their product attractive to folks or just to maximize an illicit substance by cutting it with a non-illicit one.”

And of course, that can be deadly.

“When I was on the street working as a constable, we didn’t have a ton of overdoses,” he says. “Fentanyl wasn’t really a thing. Overdose to the point of death wasn’t seen as often as we see it now. People will say it’s the toxic drug supply … but what we have is people inserting pharmaceutical-grade pain mediation but doing it willy nilly, just throwing it in to a pill press and hoping for the best and preying on the need people have for this drug because it is such an intense high – the closest thing to heroin.”

Brewster is the CPS Drug Investigations for Safer Communities (DISC) team sergeant. 

He says what began as a pilot project several years ago has evolved into a permanent unit that is set to expand with more resources.

“We observed a lot of overdoses happening and not a lot of investigations happening,” he says. 

Frontline constables do what they can, taking statements and seizing items, but with the next call pending, they can only investigate up to a certain point.

The DISC team takes it to the next level. 

Starting with one constable probing overdose deaths and online drug dealing, the team recently expanded to four constables, along with the sergeant and hopes to add more resources.

“As a society, we shouldn’t have a team like this; it shouldn’t have to exist,” Brewster says. “I think Calgarians can rest easy, we are trying to find a solution to this problem. We are one of a few law enforcement agencies in Canada that has a large focus on both overdose deaths and online drug dealing.”

During the pilot project from January 2023 to spring 2025, about 20 to 25 files led to substantive charges, with the courts typically taking a hard line on fentanyl trafficking.

“We are getting anywhere from four-ish to five years to nine years — depending — in jail. That’s a significant jail sentence in Canada for drug-related crimes,” he says.

Right now, it’s a challenge to connect a dealer back to a death – and take go further than trafficking-related charges – this side of the border. 

Brewster says, although it would be nearly impossible to prove a drug dealer had intent to kill, a manslaughter charge — which would require evidence a person ought to have known selling that substance could put someone’s life at risk — could apply in many cases.

“There is definitely a manslaughter component,” he says. “The U.S. has really led the way with overdose investigations and modelled some of our techniques, but their law supports it a lot easier than ours does, to be able to move to that manslaughter charge.”

But seizing drugs and getting trafficking-related convictions is a win. It is powerful — for the victim, their loved ones and a message for those who traffic poison.

He says the “small but mighty” DISC team’s work thus far is promising, and they’ve received letters of support from families.

The 19-year veteran says the issue is not going to go away, and neither are police.

He hopes as the team expands, more people will be aware of what they do to hold drug dealers accountable. And he has a message for traffickers, too.

“There is no such thing as a petty drug trafficker,” Brewster says. “Here’s the thing. We are not going away and will not ignore the fact that they are causing somebody to die, and we are going to hold them accountable. My message would be we’re going to come and find you.”

Last year, in Alberta, 1,189 people died from opioid poisoning. B.C. recorded 158 toxic drug deaths just this September — almost half happening in private homes, and the victims were mostly men.

According to Statistics Canada, 18 people on average die every day due to overdose.