Cuyahoga, Franklin County report return of carfentanil

Carfentanil has suddenly resurfaced in Ohio’s two largest counties (Source: “Deadly carfentanil resurfaces in Ohio,” Akron Beacon Journal, Feb. 9, 2019).

Both the Cuyahoga County medical examiner and Franklin County coroner warned in recent days that they’ve discovered an uptick in the deadly opioid.

The weekly rate of overdoses soared over the long July Fourth holiday weekend of 2016.

Until then, many Americans had never heard of the synthetic opioid carfentanil. Like fentanyl, it’s a painkiller. But it’s 10,000 times as powerful as morphine and about 100 times more powerful than fentanyl. A speck of carfentanil can kill a human.

Overdoses slowly declined over the next two years, but health officials have always feared a resurgence of carfentanil.