 | Fake fentanyl patches have become a lucrative business in Ontario as addicts and dealers find ways to fool pharmacists into handing over the drug that sells for big bucks on the street. In some areas the patches quickly became the street drug of choice after the loss of Oxycodone. Illegal sales of the opioid became so problematic last fall that the Ontario government mandated a policy that prevents pharmacists from refilling fentanyl patch prescriptions unless patients return their used ones. Police recently busted a one-man patch production operation that sold 'second generation' counterfeits for $200. Even at that price there's money to be made. |
 | Dealers very quickly learned how to skirt around the new program by making increasingly convincing replicas of used patches, which can then be used to get refills. Each patch can sell anywhere between $500 and $700 on the street. Someone holding a winning lottery ticket, aka a prescription for fentanyl patches, can cash in upwards of $5,000 a month if they peddle their entire supply. In order to do that, they need to skirt the patch-for-patch program. |  |
