Two men dead in suspected drug overdoses reported minutes apart in Springhill

RCMP in Cumberland County are looking for information from the public to help in their investigation of two suspected drug overdose deaths in Springhill.

Police and paramedics were called to two residences four minutes apart Friday, the first at 10:41 a.m.

A 31-year-old man was pronounced dead at the first address, and a 35-year-old was found dead at the second.

Const. Dominic Laflamme said the investigation is still in its early stages and they are looking for links between the two men. They were found in homes a short distance from one another, but police don’t know if they were together Thursday night or knew one another, or if they may have purchased drugs from the same location or person.

“All we know is that they lived nearby, but we don’t have any other information than that,” Laflamme said.

He didn’t know if the men lived alone, or if they were found in medical distress or were already dead. Laflamme also wasn’t aware whether the discovery of the first person led to someone checking on the other.

At one of the dead men’s homes, police seized a small quantity of unknown substances in both pill and powder form, along with drug paraphernalia.

Police consulted with EMO and an emergency alert was issued for Cumberland County in case other people had also recently purchased the same drugs.

“It sounds odd that we have to tell people ‘don’t take drugs,’ but this is ‘if you have drugs or purchased drugs recently in this county, just be aware that people died today.’”

Laflamme said police don’t know whether the drugs were purchased in the county or somewhere else. He wasn’t aware of anyone turning in drugs because of the alert being issued.

The substances have been sent for testing. Laflamme said that while they may have contained fentanyl, nothing will be known until the lab results come back.

Police say common signs of a drug overdose include slow or absent breathing, blue or grey lips and fingers, dizziness and confusion, severe drowsiness or inability to wake a person up, and snoring, choking or gurgling noises.

Anyone with details about the incident or the distribution of illicit drugs in the community is asked to contact RCMP or Crime Stoppers.