Canadian mother shares photo of dying son as warning against opioid drug abuse

Sherri Kent pictured with her son Michael before he overdosed. Photo / Facebook

A distraught mother has taken to Facebook to voice her fears about the prescription drug Fentanyl after her son accidentally overdosed.

Sherri Kent, mother of 22-year-old Michael from Calgary in Canada, shared a distressing photo of her son hours before his death to warn others of the deadly drug which is sweeping Canada.

The photo shows a sobbing Kent holding on to her unconscious son in his hospital bed following an overdose of the opioid, which is said to be 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine.

Sherri Kent with the final photo of her with her son Michael. Photo / Facebook

"My son was not an addict he made a mistake that cost him his life," Kent wrote in a Facebook the post alongside the photo.

"It's out of control and there is no way to protect our children from this other than to warn them of the dangers of drug use."

In an interview with CBC Kent revealed how her son had been left in a store bathroom after taking the drug with the man who supplied it.

By the time her son was found, 20 minutes after he had taken the drug, Michael "was already blue in the lips," suffering from cardiac arrest when the ambulance arrived.

"Please share this with your family and friends to help prevent another tragedy," Kent writes in her post.

Kent's photo, taken a day before Michael was taken off life support, has been shared more than 100,000 times.

Abuse of opioids has increased in Canada in recent years with hospital admissions for opioid poisoning rising by 42 per cent between 2008 and 2015 according the Canadian Institute of Health Information.

"I just want to make everyone aware of the epidemic that's goin (sic) on right now that's killing 5-7 people a day in every city in Canada," Kent posted to Facebook.