Acetyl Fentanyl Could Hit Charlotte’s Streets

Last winter, a headline in The Charlotte Observer read, “Two powerful street drugs behind recent overdoses across NC.” The story, covered by Thomasi McDonald, opened with a reference to a warning issued by the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) in the winter of 2013. The NCDHHS warned about the arrival of acetyl fentanyl, a drug at least five times more potent than heroin. The warning came with the report of three people in three North Carolina dying from fatal overdoses of the drug.

Fast forward to last winter, and three more people died in Chatham County while another eight were sickened by a pain killer with a very similar name: Fentanyl. According to state health authorities, fentanyl is at least 20 times more potent than heroin. State law enforcement officials reported the use of the drug to get high as on the rise.

Acetyl Fentanyl and Fentanyl

The two drugs hitting North Carolina streets have a common denominator: They can and have killed users, many of whom didn’t even realize they were ingesting the substance. The State Bureau of Investigation reported on the case of the Chatham County deaths, stating fentanyl had been combined with powder cocaine.

Acetyl Fentanyl (or acetylfentanyl) is an opioid analgesic. Studies have proven it to be five to fifteen times more potent than heroin and 80 times more potent than morphine. It is roughly fifteen times less potent than fentanyl. Says Wikipedia, “It has never been licensed for medical use and has only been sold illegally as a designer drug.”

Fentanyl has been used in and by hospitals since 1968 to introduce anesthesia prior to surgery or to treat chronic pain. Available only by prescription, it is strictly controlled in hospital settings because of its potency.

Charlotte and North Carolina Residents Need To Be Aware

State toxicologists have reported a spike in the street-level use of fentanyl that is not pharmaceutical grade, but instead produced in laboratories and then substituted for other drugs, such as heroin. How large of an increase are we facing? According to The Charlotte Observer, a 50 percent increase in overdose cases has been seen since 2013.

The potency of fentanyl and acetyl fentanyl cannot be overstated. When a hospital anesthesiologist puts a patient under anesthesia with a drug like fentanyl, his or her sole mission is to keep the patient alive. When this drug is used to get high on the street, there is no professional standing watch and the risk of death is astronomically high.

The reported overdoses in our state have been the result of a mixture of acetyl fentanyl and heroin. Sometimes referred to on the street as “China White,” users often fail to realize what they’re getting. They use the drug as if it were heroin or cocaine, completely unaware of the added potency of the fentanyl. This drug poses a very real and serious danger to Charlotte and North Carolina residents, which is why drug prevention campaigns and education are growing ever more vital.