Local Officials on Alert for New Deadly Drug

Local law enforcement and drug prevention and treatment agency officials are on alert with word of an increase in the appearance of a synthetic narcotic even more potent than deadly fentanyl.

The Federal Drug Administration says “carfentanil”, which is surfacing around the country, is 100-times more potent than fentanyl, which has been showing up in a fatal mix with heroin and other drugs in recent overdose deaths.

Health officials in Broome and Tioga Counties say they are aware of the drug that is also being mixed in with other narcotics but have not seen confirmed evidence of carfentanil appearing locally.

Carfentanil is described as a potent sedative, sometime used as an elephant tranquilizer.

Law enforcement officials are continuing to try to track where the base narcotics and the deadly additives are coming from.

Public education programs have been recently stepped up to inform the public of an increase in drug overdoses and the availability of programs to train in the use of the overdose reversal drug “Narcan”.