DEADLY MYSTERY DRUG THAT SICKENED HUNDREDS HAS BEEN DISCOVERED

www.wcluradio.com/deadly-mystery-drug-that-sickened-hundreds-has-been-discovered/

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A deadly mystery drug sickened hundreds of people in the summer of 2016, ripping a destructive path down Interstate 71 from Cincinnati to Louisville.
Many collapsed, struggling to breathe. Doctors sprinted outside emergency rooms to cars, yanking out those left motionless and blue. They had mere minutes to prevent brain damage or death.

The culprit would soon have a name — carfentanil, an elephant tranquilizer — thanks to a team of pioneering scientists at the Drug Enforcement Administration’s secret lab in Northern Virginia. Here, chemists at the Special Testing and Research Laboratory recently granted rare access to the Courier Journal and USA TODAY Network for a behind-the-scenes look at their critical work.
They also revealed how they helped solve the mystery of carfentanil and tracked the spread of the drug, the most lethal variation of America’s No. 1 killer — fentanyl.

Carfentanil, 100 times more potent than fentanyl, was never meant for humans, so labs in Ohio didn’t have a known sample to use for comparison.

Nearly a year earlier, a lab on the Pacific Coast tested a sample from a drug seizure that didn’t match any known drug. Officials there also heard it might be carfentanil, so the DEA’s research lab wanted to get a sample that had been confirmed as the animal tranquilizer to use for comparisons. But they hit a snag.
At the time, the only lab with the drug was owned by a private company that supplied zoos.
Since carfentanil is used to tranquilize large animals and is heavily regulated, it was difficult for lab officials to get it for research purposes.

Carfentanil remains a threat nationwide.In February, more than two years since the big wave of overdoses, the elephant tranquilizer caused small rashes of overdoses in Cleveland and Columbus. This time, Ohio officials quickly identified the cause, thanks to the DEA lab’s standard.
The lab has shared samples of carfentanil and other drugs with labs across the country, which has helped communities identify emerging drug threats.
While carfentanil has been linked to overdose outbreaks,fentanyl — a synthetic opioid — is now killing more Americans than any other drug.

At the DEA lab, a team of scientists also are studying today’s crystal meth, a drug that has continued to spread across the country in the shadows of heroin and fentanyl.
“Everything we’re seeing is high purity, 96 percent or greater,” said Jaclyn Brown, a senior forensic chemist. “The majority of what we’re seeing comes from Mexico.”
Chemists from law enforcement agencies in Mexico have come to the DEA’s Northern Virginia lab to learn the best ways to test drugs and spot drug trends.

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