A new drug has been added into the current opioid epidemic and the DEA says it’s already in Missouri.
It’s called acryl fentanyl. It’s another version of the synthetic opioid ‘fentanyl.’
"Acryl fentanyl and regular fentanyl are about 50 to a 100 times more potent than morphine itself,” said Doug Dorley, DEA special agent in Overland Park.
“It is not legally accepted for medical use. It's not being manufactured in the United States,” he said.
Law enforcement believe the drug is being smuggled into the country. And because it creates an opioid-high, those dependent on the opioids are finding it cut into heroin, or they’re taking it by itself.
"They're doing it to get that extra high because the original high they had was no longer working,” said Dorley.
It also only takes two milligrams for the drug to potentially be deadly, therefore Naloxone (Narcan), the life-saving antidote used by first responders, isn’t always effective.
"First responders then have to give you multiple doses of naloxone to try and overcome the opiates in your body,” Dorley said.
Emergency crews have already responded to nearly 300 opioid overdoses in Johnson County so far in 2017. Numbers from the CDC are even more startling:
- The death rate from synthetic opioid overdose rose 75 percent from 2014 to 2015
- An average of 91 people die from opioid overdose every day – a number that has quadrupled since 1999.
"You are more likely to die of a drug overdose than you are to die in a car accident,” said Dorley.
The addition of acryl fentanyl into the drug circulation is just another chapter in the ongoing battle against the current opioid crisis in the United States. Because new, dangerous drugs are constantly being developed, the DEA says fighting the epidemic continues to be a game of cat and mouse.
"They make a little mimic to a drug; they make a little chemical change, and it's a brand new drug and they send it back up,” said Dorley.
Blue Cross-Blue Shield says claims for opioid addiction have soared nearly 500 percent between 2010 and 2016.
