Sheriff Issues Warning on Fentanyl Derivatives

Sheriff Issues Warning on Fentanyl Derivatives 

Deadly amount of each drug

Mandy Catoe
mcatoe@thelancasternews.com
July 7, 2017


The growing opiod epidemic prompted Lancaster County Sheriff Barry Faile to issue a warning to residents about the dangers of new derivatives of fentanyl, a deadly synthetic opiate.
In a press release earlier this week, Faile alerted the public about two recent fentanyl offshoots, more deadly than the original synthetic. The two drugs are acrylfentanyl and tetrahydrofuran fentanyl.
"Residue from these chemicals could be left on surfaces in hotel rooms, so don't rent cheap rooms in bad areas," he said. "Be sure rooms have been thoroughly cleaned before allowing family members, especially children entry into the room."
Faile said multiple reports from other states indicate that the opiod reversal drug, naloxone, may not be effective if someone overdoses after ingesting acrylfentanyl. He said both drugs can be absorbed through the skin and are very dangerous.
Lancaster County Coroner Karla Deese sees the real cost of the synthetic drug epidemic.
"The first five months of 2017, I have twice as many synthetic opiod deaths as in the entire year of 2016," Deese said.
The first three months of this year show an even more dramatic rise. Three times as many people died from synthetic opiods in the first quarter of 2017 as compared to the same period last year, Deese said.
In 2016, Lancaster County had 5 opiod-related deaths and no fentanyl synthetic deaths, Deese said.
"So far, this year, the county has had nine synthetic opiod related deaths," she said. "Included in those, five were heroin laced with fentanyl and three were synthetic fentanyl only."
Deese gave some background on fentanyl, a Chinese-manufactured powder from "clandestine labs" illegally shipped to the United States. Deese said the powder is often snorted. It is also converted into a liquid, put into heroin, or pressed into pills and stamped with the same markings as pharmaceutical tablets such as Xanax.
"People purchasing on the street don't know the difference and think they are purchasing a legit, pharmaceutical Xanax, but instead are getting a very cheap and deadly pill," Deese said. "The dealers are making a ton of money off them. It is absolutely deadly."
The manufacturers of heroin have learned synthetic fentanyl is very inexpensive so they add it to the heroin and it causes immediate death, Deese said.
The county's victims from synthetic opiods were from all socioeconomic levels and ranged in age from the teens to the late 50s, she said.
The coroner's statistics were drawn from deaths through May 31 when the tenth death investigation was in process. Since then, two more people have died from fentanyl, Deese said.

 Photos supplied by Coroner

Follow Reporter Mandy Catoe on Twitter @MandyCatoeTLN or contact her at (803) 283-1152