CDC-HEALTH ALERT FENTANYL FENTANYL ANALOGS INCLUDING CARFENTANIL

From U.S. Center for Disease Control UPDATE-Rising Numbers of Deaths Involving Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs, Including Carfentanil, and Increased Usage and Mixing with Non-opioids

For the full Health Alert Network from CDC please see,

https://emergency.cdc.gov/han/HAN00413.asp

De Faakto Intelligence Research Observatory Key Point Notes

  • Rising Numbers of Deaths Involving Fentanyl and Fentanyl Analogs, Including Carfentanil, and Increased Usage and Mixing with Non-opioids-(Cocaine, benzodiazepines, counterfeit opioid pills, ketamine, and methamphetamine) (CDC, 2018)

Key Points from Alerts in 2015 & 2016

  • CDC alerted to the increase in unintentional overdose fatalities involving fentanyl in multiple states, primarily driven by illicitly manufactured fentanyl
  • Sharp increase in the availability of counterfeit pills containing varying amounts of fentanyl and fentanyl analogs
  • The continued increase of overdose deaths involving fentanyl across and the widening array of fentanyl analogs being mixed with heroin or sold as heroin (CDC, 2018)

Key Points from Current Alert 2018 Update

  • The continued increase in the supply of fentanyl and fentanyl analogs detected by law enforcement
  • The sharp rise in overdose deaths involving fentanyl and fentanyl analogs in a growing number of states, in particular the growing number of deaths involving the ultra-high potency fentanyl analog known as carfentanil
  • The expanding number of poly-drug combinations implicated in opioid overdose deaths, which include non-opioids, such as cocaine, benzodiazepines, counterfeit opioid pills, ketamine, and methamphetamine
  • The supply, distribution, and potency of illicitly manufactured fentanyl and fentanyl analogs in the U.S. drug market is continuously evolving
  • The rate of synthetic opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. rose from 3.1 to 6.2 deaths per 100,000 between 2015 and 2016, marking the first year that synthetic opioids became the most common type of opioid involved in all opioid overdose deaths
  • This trend has extended into 2017, with preliminary counts from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) indicating that more than 55% of opioid overdose deaths occurring nationally in the 12-months ending November 2017 involved synthetic opioids, accounting for more than 27,000 overdose deaths (CDC, 2018)