100x stronger than fentanyl: Elephant tranquilizer carfentanil behind 11 Colorado deaths

By Shannon Ogden | Denver7

Denver7 did some digging about the powerful drug in Colorado and found that the state has recorded 11 drug overdose deaths involving carfentanil, including 5 so far this year

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.

READ THE FULL STORY AT DENVER7 HERE