Parcel containing 17.75L of GHB was largest quantity Weyburn police have seen

Weyburn will be safer after police officers stopped a package containing 17.75 litres of gamma-hydroxybutyrate (GHB), according to Detective Constable Jonathon Kerr.

“Just because we’re a smaller city, doesn’t mean we don’t have the bigger-city drug issues,” said the officer with Weyburn Police Service’s drug unit.

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Kerr said GHB can be used to commit sexual assault, when it is secretly slipped into drinks. He said the seizure on April 4 represented the largest amount of GHB he’s ever seen enter the city.

“The quantity that we got, it could definitely do a fair bit of damage to the community, depending on what the intended use of it was,” he said.

Weyburn police intercepted the package while it was en route to a home in the city. The parcel contained five bottles of GHB, a drug that’s tasteless, colourless and odourless. A few drops can cause fatigue and memory loss.

The GHB had an estimated street value of $10,000 to $18,000, according to police.

Kerr said city’s the drug unit normally finds methamphetamine, fentanyl, and cocaine during busts, and GHB is not a drug that is regularly seized by the police department.

“It’s not (a drug) that we commonly come across, and definitely not in this quantity,” said Kerr.

Kerr said Weyburn’s drug unit was tipped off by the Vancouver Police Department’s Gang Crime Unit, which indicated that a package containing an illegal substance may be heading for a home in the city after officers in B.C. saw a suspicious packaging slip.

The parcel was being mailed by UPS, Kerr said, and wrapped up in a brown box. Drugs arriving by mail is something Kerr said is becoming more common.

“Some of these individuals are pretty, pretty smart individuals, and they’re always coming up with new and creative ways to move these drugs across across the country,” he said.

On April 7, police arrested a 35-year-old man from Weyburn in connection with the package. He is now facing several drug and gun charges.

In a statement, the Regina Police Service said GHB is not commonly seen in the Queen City.

Lisa Miller, executive director of the Regina Sexual Assault Centre, said GHB is a dangerous drug.

“I think GHB is a problem,” said Lisa Miller, executive director with the Regina Sexual Assault Centre.

“It’s misused in order to harm people. We certainly have clients that have experienced that.”

Miller said the centre does not see a large number of reports of clients being drugged, but GHB can be difficult to test for because there is only a small window for it to be caught.

“It’s so undetectable, and a very small amount can incapacitate people,” she said.

Miller said anyone who believes they may have been sexually assaulted should seek medical care.