Bill would criminalize ‘biggest, baddest’ opioid, carfentanil
The frightening emergence of the elephant tranquilizer carfentanil in Massachusetts, confirmed this week by state police, is adding urgency to a bill that would officially criminalize the powerful drug, which one lawmaker says is the “biggest, baddest” opioid the state has ever seen.
“It’s straight out of a nightmare,” state Rep. Tim Whelan, a former state trooper, said of the synthetic drug, which can be 100 times more powerful than fentanyl. Its potency can be so deadly, Whelan warned, it could render the overdose reversal drug known commonly as Narcan essentially useless and kill someone with just two milligrams.
“There is no way an ambulance would have enough Narcan to bring back someone who overdosed on it,” the Brewster Republican said. “This is the biggest, baddest animal we have seen yet.”
State police said they’ve found three samples in recent weeks that tested positive for carfentanil, the first its lab has ever seen.
The samples — two pure, one cut with cocaine — emerged from two seizures made by Brockton police and another by Transit Police in the Quincy area, according to state police, though dates and information on the seizures themselves were not immediately available yesterday.
The positive tests, first reported by the EagleTribune, have long been anticipated by the state’s law enforcement and medical community. The Herald reported last week that at least six people have been killed since it emerged in New Hampshire, though state police said they knew of no confirmed overdoses from the drug so far in Massachusetts.
Carfentanil, which can also double as an animal tranquilizer, is classified as a schedule II substance by the Federal government, but it’s not included anywhere in the state’s list of criminally banned substances, Whelan said.
His bill, which he wrote with Salem state Rep. Paul Tucker and has more than 60 co-sponsors, would classify it as a Class A substance, such as heroin or fentanyl. Those convicted of trafficking at least 5 grams of would face up to 20 years in prison.
David Procopio, a state police spokesman, said the drug’s potency allows dealers to cut it with other substances and stretch the supply.
“It’s strictly about profitability,” Whelan said. “It’s evil from top to bottom.”