In Columbus, Ohio, a growing alarm is being sounded across the United States about carfentanil, a highly dangerous synthetic opioid. This substance is a staggering 10,000 times stronger than morphine and 100 times more potent than fentanyl.

The Drug Enforcement Agency highlights a troubling trend, stating, “Carfentanil’s emergence in illegal drug markets within the U.S. is deeply concerning. Its extreme potency could result in a surge of overdoses and fatalities, even among those accustomed to opioids.” The agency also warns that carfentanil poses a significant risk to first responders and law enforcement officers who might encounter it.

In Ohio, there’s a notable increase in the number of drug samples containing various substances, with a particular uptick in carfentanil presence, experts caution.

According to chemists at Ohio’s Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BCI), the rising presence of carfentanil is escalating public health and safety risks.

By 2025, the BCI had identified over 199 instances of carfentanil, surpassing the total from the previous four to five years combined.

Jessica Toms, the laboratory manager at BCI, remarked, “In 2017, we examined a little over 1,200 samples. While we haven’t reached those numbers yet, the current figures are significantly higher than the 30 to 40 samples we’ve encountered in recent years.”

Carfentanil is used as an animal tranquilizer for elephants and other large animals, according to the DEA.

An amount as small as the tip of a pencil can be lethal. Officials say it’s often manufactured overseas and shipped into the U.S., where it appears in tablet and powder form in various colors.

The BCI says the substance has been found in 46 counties across Ohio and in surrounding states, typically mixed with cocaine, methamphetamine, and fentanyl, making it extremely toxic when combined.

“When I first started out in drug chemistry testing evidence here at BCI, drug items that we were testing only had one substance in it. You had cocaine, it was cocaine, and you had heroin, it was heroin,” Toms said. “And now it’s not uncommon to see five or six different drugs that are mixed together. The most I think we’ve had is 12 different controlled substances in one sample.”

Pharmaceutical and health leaders warn that the surge in lab-made drugs like carfentanil is fueling overdoses and deaths across the Ohio region. They urge the public to be aware of the dangers of drug use and to carry resources such as narcan to help prevent fatal overdoses.