— Kamloops this Week
A Kamloops drug dealer has been handed a two-year sentence in a federal penitentiary after selling carfentanil, a lethal synthetic opioid, to an undercover police officer.
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Derrick Keith Beckett pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court on Monday to two counts of trafficking in a controlled substance — one each for methamphetamine and carfentanil.
The charges date back to consecutive days in September 2017, when Kamloops Mounties were using undercover operators to conduct drug buys from local dealers.
Court heard Beckett, 45, was part of a dial-a-dope ring selling “side” and “down” — street names for meth and heroin, respectively. Beckett sold $40 worth of meth to an undercover operator, followed by a $50 transaction the following day, in which he turned over 0.2 grams of meth and 0.1 grams of carfentanil.
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According to Health Canada, carfentanil is used to sedate large animals like elephants and is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. The BC Coroners Service has said carfentanil was detected in 81 B.C. overdose deaths between June 2017 and March.