WASHINGTON — Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres is requesting information from the Drug Enforcement Administration after local health officials found the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil and the veterinary anesthetic medetomidine in street drugs in New York City.
Carfentanil, a more potent analogue of fentanyl, Eight local opioid samples contained small amounts of the substance. According to the city’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, there were two drug-related cases between March and June, two of which were overdoses.
Medetomidine was detected in one sample from the Bronx in June.
“I am writing to inquire about steps the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has taken or plans to take to disrupt the supply chain that perpetuates the proliferation of carfentanil in America’s largest city,” Rep. Torres (D-NY) wrote to DEA Administrator Anne Milgram.
“The widespread availability of even trace amounts of carfentanil could make the worst drug crises orders of magnitude more deadly,” Torres wrote.
“Given the growing presence of carfentanil in New York City and the serious threat it poses to both public safety and public health, I am seeking clarification on DEA’s law enforcement efforts to combat the carfentanil supply chain.”
The ingredients of street drugs and the risks they pose to users have changed significantly over time, and the number of overdose deaths in the United States has 2022 all-time high.
Preliminary data showed that deaths nationwide and in New York state fell only slightly last year.
Changes in the chemical composition of street drugs have created problems with detection and treatment.
New York City health officials warned Recent Warnings Carfentanil, an extremely potent synthetic opioid, “is not detected by field drug testing techniques” such as fentanyl test strips “due to technical limitations,” but is instead detected “in secondary laboratory testing.”
All eight samples also contained fentanyl, a substance that can be deadly in amounts as small as 10 grains of salt, local authorities said.
Carfentanil was found in at least seven fatal drug overdoses between January and June 2024, according to the city’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, up from three known cases in 2023.
Meanwhile, health officials said medetomidine was detected in a sample in late June that also contained fentanyl.
The presence of medetomidine can be potentially problematic because its effects can be similar to opioids, but it cannot be treated with naloxone, an opioid antidote.
Medetomidine is “similar to xylazine,” a veterinary pain reliever and muscle relaxant that is often mixed into street drugs. From around 2020 “But it will have a stronger and longer-lasting effect,” city officials said.
Health officials recommend “artificial respiration” for suspected overdose patients who do not respond to naloxone due to the effects of xylazine and medetomidine.
Xylazine is most commonly found in the northeastern United States. According to federal data, The 2022 report shows it is especially prevalent in New Jersey, but not New York.
Because toxicology reports do not necessarily test for all potential substances or describe their specific analogs, it is unclear how different compounds contributed to the overdose.
Carfentanil’s potential effects have been a concern for as long as fentanyl has been around, but it has never surpassed its better-known cousin, though studies have found it to be a significant contributor to fatal overdoses, at least in some parts of the country.
A study of drug overdoses in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, which includes the city of Cleveland, found that of 543 overdose victims in 2017, 90% contained fentanyl and 35% contained carfentanil. Often overlapping.
Opioid addicts have primarily turned to heroin and other street drugs following increased regulation of OxyContin and related painkillers, which have been aggressively promoted, legally distributed in large quantities, and widely prescribed to hook Americans. Peaked in 2010.
Heroin has gradually been replaced, or replaced entirely, by fentanyl and related synthetic compounds, primarily produced in China. U.S. opioid overdose deaths triple Over the past decade, users of unrelated drugs, such as cocaine and counterfeit prescription pills, have also fallen victim to the effects of consuming cheap imports.
