New Zealand is at high risk of fentanyl being circulated widely and an “overdose epidemic”, a Canadian expert says.

The opioid crisis has already taken hundreds of thousands of lives across North America and Europe and some of those drugs have been found on New Zealand shores, with fentanyl being responsible for 12 overdoses in Wairarapa earlier this year.

Dan Werb from, Canada’s Centre for Drug Policy Evaluation, told AM New Zealand was at high risk of a fentanyl outbreak.

“Global drug trafficking patterns have shifted to produce lots more fentanyl and New Zealand being a small country… is at a really high risk of experiencing an overdose epidemic if those drug trafficking markets shift a bit,” Dr Werb told host Ryan Bridge.

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