Unprecendented Number Of Overdoses Due To New Opiate Drugs, Can Kill In Doses Smaller Than Snowflake

In recent weeks in the Cincinnati area, a potent drug has led to more than 200 overdoses and three deaths. Officials are calling it an unprecedented spike in overdoses. The pattern has ripped through Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia, leading to ambulance crews being overwhelmed and emergency rooms filled, while leaving anti-drug advocates stunned.

The New York Times shares details about the most recent spike in deaths and overdoses due to drug addiction.

“Addiction specialists said the sharp increases in overdoses were a grim symptom of America’s heroin epidemic, and of the growing prevalence of powerful synthetic opiates like fentanyl. The synthetics are often mixed into batches of heroin, or sprinkled into mixtures of caffeine, antihistamines and other fillers.”

In the Cincinnati area, medical and law enforcement officials state that the belief is the overdoses are largely caused by certain synthetic drugs known as carfentanil, which is an animal tranquilizer used on livestock and elephants that has no use for humans. To put the strength of these two mentioned drugs into perspective, fentanyl can be 50 times stronger than heroin, and even worse, carfentanil is as much as “100 times more potent than fentanyl.” An amount smaller than a snowflake could result in death, experts say.

Drug Linked to Ohio Overdoses Can Kill in Doses Smaller than a Snowflake: Carfentanil, an animal tranquilizer… https://t.co/IFuhgb6Hv5

— US News Links (@dlusnews) September 5, 2016

The coroner of Hamilton County, Dr. Lakshmi Kode Sammarco, states that he has determined carfentanil was indeed the cause of several recent overdose deaths in the area. Deaths are now being investigated back to early July in order to determine if the specific drug was the cause.

The coroner spoke in an interview about the unprecedented spike in overdoses.

“We’d never seen it before. I’m really worried about this.”

Officials speculate that carfentanil is being manufactured in China or Mexico and then makes its way into Cincinnati and the surrounding area in shipments that flow north on Interstates 71 and 75. The drug has also appeared in Columbus, the Gulf Coast of Florida, and Kentucky.

Fentanyl, the opiate that killed pop icon Prince, is used widely in hospitals as a fast-acting painkiller, yet carfentanil is quite rare, says Sammarco. The medical coroner stated that she was forced to call zoos and rural veterinarians, federal authorities, and licensed Canadian manufacturers to find samples that her office could use to test.

‘Unprecedented’ 174 #heroin #overdoses in 6 days in Cincinnati#Carfentanil #OverdoseAware2016 https://t.co/H5cEdevr9l

— QC Harm Reduction (@QCHarmReduction) September 3, 2016

The potency of the carfentanil is such a worry that deputies and police officers are concerned about accidentally touching or inhaling the drug. For this reason, officers carry overdose-reversing naloxone sprays to protect themselves from the drug’s effects. The publication shares how the potency of the drug has caused the need to alter the process and steps usually followed at the scene of an overdose.

“Because of its potency, law enforcement agents have stopped field-testing the powders they find at the scenes of overdoses. When regional drug enforcement officers in Cincinnati pulled over two men on Aug. 26 and found an unknown pink substance, they sent it directly to the county coroner’s office; it tested positive for heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil.”

Ambulance crews and police are being slammed with constant reports of overdoses and are answering between 20 and 30 calls per day in the Cincinnati area. Officials admit to having to give those who overdose between two and five doses of the naloxone spray to revive them. Usually, they say that one spray of the substance is enough. Hospitals are having to give overdose patients intravenous drips of anti-opioid chemicals.

Sheriff Jim Neil, of Hamilton County, shares how potent these new drugs are, which is making treating overdoses incurred by them a very difficult task.

“Our antidote, our Narcan [naloxone], is ineffective. It was meant for heroin. It wasn’t meant for fentanyl or carfentanil.”

[Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images]