What is carfentanil?

Experts are still trying to discern if carfentanil is begin the rash of 21 overdoses that swept Las Cruces in a three-week period last month.

Carfentanil is an opioid that is 10,000 times as potent as morphine and 11 times more powerful than fentanyl. The drug is mostly used in veterinary settings to sedate large animals like elephants. Nationwide, surges of the drug date back to 2016 but a new wave seems to be appearing according to the Drug Enforcement Agency. 

From January to June of 2023, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention states that there were 29 overdose deaths linked to the drug but that number jumped to 238 in 2024 in the same time period.

Kevin Runn, drug intelligence officer for High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area of New Mexico, said that the drug has appeared in New Mexico before, too. 

“We get our information from our partners at the crime lab, one of our partners in the state crime lab. They started seeing carfentanil showing up in the seized narcotics that they were testing in the fall of last year,” Renn said.

However, it is too soon to tell if the 21 overdoses, five of which were fatal, in August in Las Cruces, is part of a new wave or if it is just an uptick. 

“It’s nationwide. It is showing up in other places and we are just wondering if it is one of those things that comes and goes or if it is going to be a new fad,” Renn said.

The High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area for New Mexico has no new information regarding the spike in overdoses in Doña Ana County in August, Renn said.

According to the HIDTA, a drug known as carfentanil was showing up in seized narcotics that the state crime lab was receiving.

Since hospitals can't release information on what drugs people overdosed on due to privacy concerns and tests are still ongoing, it is not definitive that carfentanil is behind the increase in overdoses in the county.