Canada has restricted six chemicals used to make the opioid fentanyl, which has been blamed in thousands of overdose deaths across the country.
"This will make it harder to access the chemicals used to make illicit fentanyl, and provide law enforcement with a stronger ability to take action on these substances," Health Canada said in a statement late Wednesday.
The precursors were added to a list of controlled drugs and substances, making it immediately illegal to import or distribute them without authorization.
The move follows a two-day summit in November hosted by Health Minister Jane Philpott with health experts seeking solutions to the opioid crisis.
"There are deaths virtually every single day as a result of opioid overdoses," she told reporters.
"This (measure) is one in a whole range of steps that we are taking as a government to address this very serious public health crisis," she added.
Last week, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Chinese authorities reached agreement to jointly combat the trans-Pacific flow of fentanyl into Canada.
Highly potent and addictive, the analgesic is estimated to be up to 100 times stronger than morphine. The related drug carfentanil is 100 times more powerful than fentanyl.
Two milligrams of pure fentanyl (the size of about four grains of salt) is enough to kill the average adult.
Coroners have said the drugs were responsible for 2,000 deaths in Canada in 2015. An even higher number is expected this year.
Police busted six clandestine labs in Canada making fentanyl between 2011 and 2015, but now they say it is increasingly being ordered over the Internet and imported from overseas.
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