Indiana seeing surge in drug 100x more potent than fentanyl

INDIANAPOLIS - A deadly statewide drug trend is worrying local health officials. Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid a hundred times more powerful than fentanyl, and it's quickly showing up in more Indiana street drugs.




"All of these drugs are just cut with these poisons," said Hamilton County Coroner Jeff Jellison.




Poisonous quantities of synthetic opioids infiltrating street drug supplies - it's not a new concern, but a growing one - with the rise of deadly variations like carfentanil.




"There's never been a more dangerous time in our history to be an illegal drug user," Jellison said.




The Indiana Department of Health tracks statewide carfentanil detections from syringes returned to syringe service programs as well as in toxicology results from fatal drug overdoses.

2021 through 2023 saw positive tests in the single digits, only for the number of positive syringe samples to spike exponentially. By the end of this year, Indiana's on track to possibly see double that number.




The 26 carfentanil detections in toxicology results of people who died of drug overdoses so far this year surpassed last year's 24 detections. In 2023, the IDOH tracked eight toxicology results positive for carfentanil, compared to just one in 2022.




Jellison explained that while fatal overdoses are declining overall, both across the state and in Hamilton County, the data is worrisome.




"I've held the hands of the loved one of someone that's overdosed. They ask me, 'Why? Why do these folks put this stuff in these drugs? Why?' And I can't give them an answer," Jellison said.




Health officials describe carfentanil as 100 times stronger than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. It's finding its way into drugs like heroin, meth, cocaine and counterfeit pills - like fake oxycodone, Xanax and Adderall purchased online.




"You can get kilogram quantities very cheap, and they're taking advantage of getting them from other countries such as China, getting it into Mexico and then flooding the United States," said retired DEA assistant special agent Mike Gannon.




Gannon said veterinarians use carfentanil as an elephant tranquilizer. But drug traffickers use it to make their supplies more powerful, profitable and addictive - at the expense of unsuspecting human lives.




"By the time a drug gets to our area in Indiana, you don't know how many times it could've exchanged hands with a drug trafficker - five, six, seven, eight times - and each time, you run a risk of somebody getting some of these synthetic opioids and throwing that in there," Gannon said.




That's why authorities are urging the public to take it seriously, keep Narcan on hand and know how to use it, and intervene if a loved one is using any illegal drug.




"I'd rather have that person sitting in a jail cell than on my autopsy table," Jellison added. "So, to family members, reach out and get them some help."





via: https://fox59.com/news/indiana-seeing-surge-in-drug-100x-more-potent-than-fentanyl/