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A figure shows the number of unintentional overdose deaths in Ohio by county from 2009-2014. New guidelines for the prescription of opiates have been established.

New drug carfentanil linked to accelerating overdose rates found in Athens

Heroin laced with carfentanil, a synthetic opioid that has contributed to an alarming rise in overdoses across Ohio, has made an appearance in the Athens area.

Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than the drug fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine, according to the National Institutes of Health. Carfentanil is used to sedate large animals, the DEA states.

Athens Police Department Chief Tom Pyle said carfentanil is in circulation in Athens, adding that there has been at least one confirmed overdose, which occurred over the summer. Athens County Prosecutor Keller Blackburn also confirmed the presence of carfentanil in the area.  

"Well, you know, what can we do about it?” Pyle said. “It’s coming from outside, we have clandestine drug investigations going on and all we can do is warn the public and prepare our officers. You know, as little as a grain of fentanyl can kill a person. And how it’s being used is it’s being introduced into the heroin market as heroin.”

While officials have confirmed the synthetic opioid’s presence in Athens County, its effects in the area are not yet clear, because health and law enforcement officials have not seen it to the same extent as those in harder hit areas.

“It could be here and hidden, but I would expect it to show itself in increased overdose deaths,” Dr. Joe Gay, executive director at Health Recovery Services, said.

The Akron Beacon Journal reported in July that 236 overdoses occurred in a three-week period in the city, a number of which are believed to be linked to carfentanil.

The Cincinnati Enquirer reported that in overdoses involving carfentanil, health and law enforcement officials have had to administer multiple doses of the anti-narcotic naloxone — also known by the brand name, Narcan — and there have been cases in which victims did not respond to the anti-narcotic at all.

Amber Pyle, assistant chief of Athens County Emergency Medical Services, said she has not seen concrete evidence of carfentanil in overdose cases, although it would be tough to identify for certain without testing. 

Gay said officials didn’t start testing for fentanyl until there was a notable increase in overdoses, and the same could apply to carfentanil.  

“I think that we’ve seen an overall trending up,” Rick Callebs, chief of Athens County EMS said, but the trend does not mirror those of cities hit hard by carfentanil, such as Akron and Cincinnati.

Blackburn said he believes opiates in the area have generally declined due to his office’s efforts to prevent the spread of heroin and oxycodone. The prosecutor’s office introduced a Vivitrol treatment program in 2015 in an attempt to curb opioid addiction and dependence. The Federal Food and Drug Administration approved Vivitrol, which blocks opioid receptors in the brain, for use in treating addiction in 2010.

According to a July news release by the Hamilton County Heroin Coalition, carfentanil has been found in street drugs in Columbus, in addition to street drugs in Akron and Hamilton County. 

Athens' proximity to Columbus makes it an outlet for those drugs. For example, last year the county prosecutor’s office announced charges against 13 people involved since 2011 in a heroin ring stretching from Columbus to Athens. 

“There’s no doubt — if it’s in Columbus, it’ll get here,” Gay said. 

@norajaara

nj342914@ohio.edu

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