Sniff and sit. That’s how RCMP service dogs detect the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl and flag its presence for officers.

This morning, RCMP invited the news media to its dog training centre outside Innisfail to watch Eve, a five-year-old German shepherd taught to recognize the drug, in action.

To Eve, fentanyl is just another odour that handlers have taught her to identify. Once she’s found it, she sits and waits, rather than pursuing the substance.

Insp. Akrum Ghadban, who oversees the service dog program, says this keeps teams safe from accidental exposure to the drug, of which two milligrams -- or three grains -- is enough to kill the average adult.

There are 135 service dogs in Canada that have been trained to detect fentanyl. In 2015, the training centre partnered with the RCMP’s Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response Team to develop a safe method to introduce the odour to dogs. They did so by diluting powdered fentanyl into a sterile solution, preventing dangerous airborne particles from forming.

Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid up to 100 times more potent than morphine. It can be legally prescribed as a painkiller. However, the drug is being imported, mixed with other drugs and sold on the black market in pill or powder form.

Drug users have been said to be playing “Russian roulette” with fentanyl, as they have no idea whether they’re consuming a fatal dosage.

Alberta’s Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley was one of those watching the dog demonstration today. She said the RCMP’s work will help save lives by intercepting drugs before they hit the streets. Ganley credited a recent 12,000-tablet fentanyl bust in British Columbia to a dog team trained in Innisfail.

Alberta Justice Minister Kathleen Ganley speaking at the RCMP Police Dog Service Training Centre near Innisfail on Aug. 22.

Ghadban says they’ve been sharing their training methods with other police forces in the country and the world.

“It’s something that we’re sharing because what we do is save lives. It does us no good to hoard secrets. It’s something we want out there in the world,” he says.

The number of fentanyl-related deaths has been rising in Alberta. For the first half of this year, there have been 241 deaths. Last year, there were 368.

In 2015, there were 247 fentanyl-related deaths.

Ganley commended the work of law enforcement but also says a large part of the government’s role is to treat the opioid crisis as a healthcare issue, by providing access to opioid replacement therapies and access to supervised consumption.