SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — A public safety & health alert has been issued in San Diego after a drug significantly more lethal than fentanyl was found in counterfeit pills.
The San Diego District Attorney’s Office, San Diego Overdose Response Strategy (ORS) and San Diego/Imperial HIDTA have issued the alert after carfentanil — a synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than fentanyl used for tranquilizing elephants and other large mammals — was found in fake “M-30” pills in the San Diego region.
The DA’s office says it only takes a small amount of carfentanil to kill someone, and that Narcan (naloxone) might not work to reverse an overdose from the synthetic opioid.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reports carfentanil is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl. The drug can be absorbed through the skin or accidentally inhaled…