By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

A FENTANYL overdose killed a 23-year-old Abaco man in Grand Bahama earlier this year, the latest known death from the drug in The Bahamas.

Robin Jeantil, also known as “Tubby” from Hope Town, was found unresponsive at a nightclub in Grand Bahama on January 7 after he reportedly ingested an unknown pill.

Police said he was taken to the Rand Memorial hospital in a private vehicle, but was pronounced dead by a local doctor.

A police official confirmed yesterday that an autopsy concluded he died from a fatal drug overdose linked to fentanyl.

This comes as concerns mount over the use of illicit fentanyl in the country.

Fentanyl is prescribed to treat severe pain, typically from acute traumatic pain or advanced cancer. Illicit fentanyl is a synthetic opioid. Officials say just two milligrams or a drug tablet can be lethal.

Police Chief Superintendent Earl Thompson, director of the police force’s Scientific Support Services, said since 2018, six deaths had been attributed to illicit fentanyl up to the time his press conference was held last July, with two of the people Bahamians.

Police said they’ve seen an increase in fentanyl pills imported into the country over the last five years, finding them in nightclubs and at parties.

“We don’t want our nation to be destroyed because of this drug use and we’ve seen fentanyl, it is here,” said Police Chief Superintendent Roberto Tyrone Goodman, officer-in-charge of the Drug Enforcement Unit.

Noted Bahamian psychiatrist Dr David Allen has said the country cannot afford a fentanyl epidemic.

The Nassau Guardian reported another fentanyl-related death in October, which also happened in Grand Bahama.