There's a new warning in our area about a drug more potent than fentanyl and morphine that has entered the drug supply.
Carfentanil, a synthetic opioid, was detected in two pressed pill samples in Edgecombe County in April.
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Only about two percent of the makeup of the pills were carfentanil, but Edgecombe County Community Paramedic Program Manager Dalton Barrett said even that amount could be deadly.
"It's extremely potent," he said. "Just a few micrograms can lead to an overdose."
Barrett said it could be linked to a recent overdose in the county, pending an autopsy, which is one of the reasons he's educating the community about it.
"With that going around, and then we saw the death, that person was also using the pressed pills; it kind of makes us believe that that's what was going on," he said.
UNC's Street Drug Analysis Lab tests samples from all over the country and helped identify the substance in Edgecombe County's samples.
Nabarun Dasgupta, the senior scientist at the analysis lab, said carfentanil is not common in the state, but it's something to watch.
"Usually, in North Carolina, there are less than 10 confirmed carfentanil deaths per year," he said.
However, he said it's essential to be aware of what is in the drug supply.
"The reason we're worried about that is that people may not be expecting something more potent than they're used to, and because of that, people may take the same amount, but still have an overdose problem," he said.
Barrett said what worries him is that the age of people overdosing seems to have trended down recently.
"Now, we see, oftentimes 15-, 16-, 17-year-olds that have overdosed, but then also they have opioid withdrawal, which means that they've had a history of opioid use for a while, which is scary," he said.
Naloxone, or Narcan, is one of the best defenses against the drug.