Six suspected fentanyl overdoses in the past seven weeks, two of which were fatal, have the Swift Current City RCMP warning the public about the drug's increased presence in the area.

Those numbers are staggering to Swift Current City RCMP's new Staff Sergeant Evan Gordon, who said those figures are historically lower and that one overdose in that timeframe is too many.

"We don't want to see this happening to the members of our community," he said. "We want those people struggling with those addictions issues, to know that there is help out there and to seek that help. The Saskatchewan Health Authority, they have some amazing resources that can help people, not only help educate people but also help to get people away from these addictions."

A plethora of information has led the City RCMP to suspect fentanyl is behind the overdoses including the scene police officers have discovered upon responding to each call.

"There's evidence of illicit drug use present," he said. "In the majority of these cases, the people that are using the drugs do have naloxone or Narcan kits present and in some cases have used them. That's always a tip-off."

Gordon said 9-1-1 callers have also often shared what substances have been ingested by the person experiencing the overdose, which can be vital for first responders attempting to help.

One of the bigger worries for the City RCMP is the rise in drug contamination they've been witnessing first-hand, which can reduce the effectiveness of a naloxone kit.

"As with all illicit drugs, there's no quality control for the opioids being used in the Swift Current area or really across Canada," he said. "People that are using these illicit substances, there's really no way for them to verify what is actually in the drugs that they're using. And this contamination can lead to unexpected and severe side-effects, obviously such as overdoses and in the worst scenario's, death."

This isn't just a local concern either, as Gordon cited a recent study done at the University of Victoria that's found an uptick of sedative chemicals being mixed into opioids they've sampled.

"These sedative chemicals are currently found in 59 per cent of the opioid samples that they're examining," he said. "And this represents about a 20 per cent increase over the last two months."

The other worry for the City RCMP is the six overdoses in the last seven weeks are just the ones they know about.

"Six in seven weeks is what we as the RCMP are aware of through calls for service," he said. "The number could be higher, there could be more people suffering."

Anyone with information about the use of illegal opioids is asked by Swift Current City RCMP to contact them.