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Drug Used To Sedate Elephants Now Causing Massive Overdoses

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A new kind of drug that is normally used to sedate elephants is reportedly behind a spate of drug overdoses in the Midwest. Authorities in Ohio have announced the drug, carfentanil, a public health emergency and the US Drug Enforcement Administration is urging residents to remain alert and cautious.

The powerful opioid is a hundred times more potent than fentanyl, the painkiller that caused the death of pop icon Prince earlier in the year. Fentanyl on its own is already 50 times more fatal than heroin, NPR reports.

Illegal drug traffickers have taken to substituting fentanyl for heroin and other opioids. Carfentanil, a synthetic drug, is now being sold on the streets, either in the form of pills or mixed in with heroin. Many users may not even be aware that their drugs contain carfentanil, which can lead to deadly results.

Tom Synan, police chief in Newtown, Ohio, and director of the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition Task Force, says that the number of overdoses a day has jumped from four or five to as many as 50. He says the drug first made an appearance in Cincinnati in July. The number of overdoses has taken first responders by surprise, overwhelming their resources.

Synan says the responders have been “truly heroic.” He adds,

One district alone had seen 14 in one shift, so they were nonstop.

Emergency workers are being told to don protective gloves and masks when handling overdose patients because carfentanil is potent enough to cause dangers to anyone who merely touches or inhales it.

Tim Ingram, Hamilton County Health Commissioner, says it can take hours for the human body to metabolize the drug — much longer than any other opioid. It makes for a very long-term high, but also puts users at increased risks. Carfentanil users who overdose are difficult to revive, even with naloxone, the emergency medication typically administered for overdose patients. Ingram says it has taken at least two or three doses for first responders to revive those affected by the drug.

Carfentanil has no approved uses and is highly restricted even for veterinary purposes, where it is used to tranquilize large animals. The DEA says most of the drugs are being illegally imported from China, though Russ Baer of the DEA adds that Mexican drug traffickers are also to blame. Carfentanil can even be purchased online.

Ingram predicts that synthetic opioids are going to be a bigger problem from this point forward, as more people see the profit and ease in cultivating drugs in a laboratory compared to growing them organically. He says there should be tougher penalties for selling illicit drugs as it becomes a bigger problem in the US.

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