Police in California are issuing a warning about the dangers of a powerful synthetic opioid.
Carfentanil is 100 times as powerful as fentanyl.
It could pose a danger to law enforcement officers who respond to drug crimes.
Carfentanil is normally used as a tranquilizer for elephants and other large mammals.
In humans, a dose of 0.02 milligrams, the size of a couple of grains of salt, can be lethal.
The drug is hitting the black market. Some people are making it in a pill to resemble Oxycontin or Xanax.
Veterinarians who use the drug in their work know about its potential danger.
“It’s even more stronger than fentanyl so like, if you had a motivation to steal either morphine or fentanyl, carfentanil would be that much stronger,” Langdon Fielding, a veterinarian at Loomis Basin Equire, says.
That same veterinarian says the drug is used on elephants, but it’s too powerful even for horses.
A Sheriff’s association in Sacramento posted a warning on its Facebook page about Carfentanil.
They say the drug hasn’t “hit the streets” there yet.
