The US has seen a 720 percent spike in deaths from a drug 100 times more powerful than fentanyl which is typically used to sedate animals as large as rhinos.
In February earlier this year, Donald Trump revealed he was imposing tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China to hold the countries 'accountable to their promises' of not only 'halting illegal immigration' but also 'stopping poisonous fentanyl and other drugs from flowing into our country'.
However, authorities are now raising awareness of another drug reported as being around '100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine'.
But what is this drug - named carfentanil?
What is carfentanil?
Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) details carfentanil was 'first synthesised in 1974 at Janssen Pharmaceuticals and sold under the brand name Wildnil'.
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The drug is 'typically used' to sedate large animals - deers, rhinos or elephants, for example'.
"A dose of 10mg is enough to knock out or even kill a fully grown African elephant," the site notes.
The drug was first detected being used as an illicit drug in 2016 and in Canada it was found as being 'present in 4.9 percent of opioid-containing samples nationally in 2022', according to one study from 2024.
This is particularly alarming given ARU explains the drug is 'too powerful to use in human medicine as a painkiller'.
ARU continues: "A dose of as small as one microgram (one-thousandth of a milligram) can cause euphoria and relaxation, but also nausea, constipation, respiratory depression, brain damage and death."
But how does it compare to fentanyl?
How carfentanil compares to fentanyl
ARU reports carfentanil is '100 times more potent than fentanyl' and while drug overdose deaths in the US fell by 14 percent between June 2023 and June 2024, deaths from carfentanil rose.
Between the first half of 2023 and the first half of 2024, carfentanil deaths are reported as having risen by a staggering 720 percent.
While 'the total number of deaths from carfentanil in the US is still tiny compared with deaths from the related drug fentanyl,' the report notes the trend is 'concerning'.
ARU also adds 'street dealers are known to cut heroin with carfentanil to give it a harder-hitting, longer-lasting high' alongside adding it to '"polydrug" mixtures' including 'cannabis, cocaine, methadone, dihydrocodeine, tramadol, benzodiazepines and ketamine'.
And, understandably, it's left people feeling scared.
Concerns and warnings about the dangers of carfentanil
Responding to a comparison photograph showing 'the amount of' heroin, fentanyl and carfentanil 'required to [potentially] cause an overdose,' one Redditor wrote: "Never heard of Carfentanl until this moment. But I feel like there should be some ominous music playing somewhere."
"God damn, if it takes that little to overdose for carfentanyl, I wonder how it's still seen as a drug instead of just straight up poison," another added.
After the Douglas County Sheriff's Office seized one of the largest stashes of carfentanil in US history, they released a press statement earlier this month, Sheriff Aaron Hanson urging to keep 'pushing public education and awareness about this dangerous drug'.
He stated: "People are losing their sons and daughters to drug overdoses on a near weekly basis in the Douglas County area."
If you want friendly, confidential advice about drugs, you can call American Addiction Centers on (313) 209-9137 24/7, or contact them through their website.
Poppy Bilderbeck