Deadly opioid carfentanil reemerges in Michigan, linked to 11 deaths in 2025
Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid, typically used by veterinarians to tranquilize large animals, like elephants, and is not approved for use in humans.
State health officials say that so far this year, 11 deaths involving carfentanil have been identified. None of those individuals tested positive for carfentanil alone. Ten of those who died also tested for cocaine, and fentanyl was found in eight of those deaths. The deaths occurred in Ingham, Livingston, Eaton, Genesee, Oakland and Wayne counties.
The synthetic drug is a small, white, powdery substance that looks like cocaine or heroin, but officials with the Drug Enforcement Administration say that using even a small amount could kill.
"Imagine like a speck of baby powder; that's how much could be a lethal dosage of carfentanil," said Brian McNeal, public information officer with the DEA's Detroit division. "It is a Schedule II drug, meaning it does have medical use, but it is not approved for human use, and it has found its way into the illicit drug supply."
Carfentanil is 100 times more potent than fentanyl and about 10,000 times more potent than morphine, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services.
"Carfentanil is an extremely potent and deadly drug," said Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, Chief Medical Executive for the State of Michigan. "We're urging people who use unregulated drugs – and their loved ones – to carry naloxone, an easy to administer nasal spray that can reverse opioid overdoses and save lives. Awareness and quick action can help save lives."
The DEA says some users mix carfentanil with other drugs like OxyContin or Xanax.
"Whether it's heroin, marijuana, or cocaine, it follows the same routes up from our southwest border into distribution hub, like any other business, and then into smaller communities and neighborhood, but the precursor chemicals mainly come from Asia, from China, India into Mexico, where drug cartels are putting these chemicals into the illicit drug supply," McNeal said.
Carfentanil was previously seen in the state in 2016 and 2017, with the drug contributing to 107 deaths in 2016 and 111 deaths in 2017. Deaths associated with the drug fell in recent years, dropping to a handful a year in 2018, 2019 and 2020, and then to zero in 2021 and 2022.
Health officials say the drug can rapidly cause central nervous system depression, which can lead to quick death, and that because an increasing number of overdose deaths associated with carfentanil also include cocaine, methamphetamine and other stimulants, users may not know those drugs contain carfentanil.
Treating a carfentanil overdose can also be extremely difficult, and officials say reversing an overdose may require several doses of naloxone.
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