Outcry over drug deaths – Lethbridge Herald

January 20, 2015

The reputed illicit drug trade on the Blood Reserve, believed to be linked in a number of deaths involving Oxy 80, a fake and illegally-manufactured version of Oxycodone, had already drawn an alert from chief and council.

Now it has drawn a public outcry and led the Blood Tribe Police Service (BTPS) to form a new task force, which was announced Saturday, is being called the Crime Reduction Unit (CRU) and will be dedicated exclusively to drug-related investigations.

“We’ve chosen two officers who have a lot of training and experience, between the two of them, in dealing with these types of issues at the street level,” said Lee Boyd, BTPS chief, adding the tactics and methods used will not be discussed in order to protect the integrity of their investigations.

“I can’t comment on the number of people that are rumoured to have succumbed to this type of drug abuse. I can say that we’ve had a number of deaths over the last several months that appear as if they might be related to drug abuse,” he continued.

Read More: http://lethbridgeherald.com/news/local-news/2015/01/20/outcry-over-drug-deaths/