The San Francisco branch of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is warning the Bay Area community that it recently seized thousands of pills containing a substance one hundred times more lethal that fentanyl that also doesn’t respond as well to overdose interventions such as naloxone, the agency said Monday.
The DEA seized 5,000 counterfeit pills containing carfentanil, which is an elephant tranquilizer and “not for humans,” the agency said on social media.
Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid that resembles other white, powdery substances such as fentanyl or cocaine. According to the DEA, it is 10,000 times more potent than morphine. Due to its strength, a “nearly microscopic” amount of it can induce powerful effects, the DEA said…