Elephant sedative emerges as threat

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A drug used to sedate elephants and other large animals, 100 times as potent as the fentanyl already escalating the country’s heroin troubles, is suspected in spates of overdoses in several states, where authorities said they’ve found it mixed with or passed off as heroin.

The appearance of carfentanil, one of the most potent opioids known to investigators, adds another twist to the fight against painkillers.

Each time authorities start to get a handle on one type of drug, another seems to pop up, said Joseph Pinjuh, chief of the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force and narcotics unit for the U.S. attorney in Cleveland.

“You feel like a kid with his finger in the dike, you know?” he said. “We’re running out of fingers.”

A man suspected of selling carfentanil as heroin was indicted this week on 20 counts, including murder, in connection with a July 10 death and nine overdoses.

Investigators are trying to track down the source of the carfentanil. Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine said he was unaware of any thefts of the drug, which, he noted, could be shipped from abroad or produced here.

Chinese companies sell carfentanil online, but it hasn’t shown up much in the U.S. drug supply, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. There hasn’t been much evidence of carfentanil on the streets, said agent Rich Isaacson.