A Manitoba mom who lost her son to an opioid overdose is sounding the alarm after police confirmed the presence of a new deadly street drug in Winnipeg.

“I’m here for those who can no longer speak, but want to be heard,” Arlene Last-Kolb said at a police news conference Thursday.

Last-Kolb’s 24-year-old son Jessie died of a fentanyl overdose in July 2014. She said she’s been working for two years to bring awareness to the growing epidemic of drug addiction.

“If it could happen to my family, it could happen to yours. Not an hour or a day goes by when our family doesn’t think about Jessie,” she added.

Last-Kolb spoke out after police seized quantities of the drug carfentanil on Sept. 12, which was the first time they confirmed the deadly drug was in Winnipeg.

The drug was discovered in a hotel in the city’s West End.

Police said they found 1,477 blotter tabs with an estimated street value of about $30,000.

Grayson Richard Parris, 37, was charged with numerous drug related crimes.

Police said carfentanil is a synthetic opioid – the fentanyl derivative is 100 times stronger than fentanyl, 10,000 times more toxic than morphine. It was developed as a tranquilizer for large animals, such as elephants.

This seizure is considered the first time carfentanil has been detected on blotter tabs. Because the application is never uniform, doses are inconsistent and could be fatal.

“It’s scary stuff,” WPS Deputy Chief Danny Smyth said. “We’re concerned, because we’re becoming aware that drug dealers are maybe mixing the potent drugs with other drugs, like cocaine or methamphetamine.”

Police and the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority are urging users of carfentanil, heroin, fentanyl or other street drugs to have a Naloxone overdose prevention kit with them at all times.

They said anyone who injects opioids can get a free kit and overdose response training from the Street Connections program.

Winnipeg paramedics carry naloxone kits. Police do not, but Smyth said Thursday it is being considered.

Last-Kolb said her son could still be alive if he was given a naloxone kit.