DENVER — An alarming warning went out this week about a powerful synthetic opioid detected in Colorado.
The El Paso County Coroner's office said it came across the first known instance of carfentanil used as a standalone drug in an individual who died of a drug overdose in Colorado Springs in August.
That person was found to have carfentanil and acetaminophen in a blood test. A spokesperson for the office said this is the first time carfentanil has been detected without fentanyl.
Carfentanil is 100 times stronger than fentanyl and 10,000 times stronger than morphine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Carfentanil was developed as a tranquilizer for large animals like elephants. It is not approved for human use.
- Read the warning about carfentanil from the El Paso County Coroner in the document below.
El Paso County reports that the person who overdosed from carfentanil was in possession of several blue pills marked M30. These are counterfeit pills made to look like the prescription pain killer oxycodone, but authorities said those pills almost always contain illicitly-manufactured fentanyl. In this case, the M30 pills showed no traces of fentanyl.
In addition to its extreme potency, the discovery of carfentanil is troubling because due to its structural difference from fentanyl, carfentanil does not react with most immunoassays, or fentanyl test strips, the coroner said.
Denver7 anchor Shannon Ogden did some research and found that just last week, the DEA's Seattle Field Division sent out a warning after the large seizure of counterfeit M30 pills containing carfentanil in Western Washington. Those pills seems to match the description of the pills found on the person who died in Colorado Springs.
Ogden reached out to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) to see just how prevalent carfentanil is in the state. A spokesperson said Colorado has had very few carfentanil-related overdoses. As of this report, the state has recorded 11 drug overdose deaths involving carfentanil, including 5 so far this year.
Carfentanil symptoms mirror those of other opioids and include slowed or stopped breathing, snoring or gurgling sounds, pinpoint pupils, cold or clammy skin, drowsiness, disorientation, sedation, and unresponsiveness, according to the El Paso County Coroner's Office.
Overdoses can be reversed with naloxone (Narcan), though higher doses may be required.
