New synthetic opioids kill even more people, says CDC



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New drugs include carfentanil, which is 100 times more potent than fentanyl, according to the CDC. Another is 3-methylfentanyl, which is four times more potent. Deaths from these drugs almost doubled between 2016 and 2017, according to the CDC

. Other synthetic illicit opioids include furanylfentanyl and acrylfentanyl. "Lastly, the drug submissions for a synthetic synthetic opioid called U-47700, first met by the DEA in 2016, increased from 533 in 2016 to 1,087 in January-June 2017," said the CDC. The Drug Enforcement Administration

Some of the newer drugs may not be detected by standard tests, and coroners and forensic scientists may need to use a mass spectrometer to detect substances.

And they are often used to cut other drugs, such as cocaine, said the CDC.

The United States is suffering from a terrible epidemic of opiate abuse. Opioids, including prescription opioids and heroin, killed 42,000 people in 2016, according to the CDC. The overdose deaths from opiates are so severe that they have contributed to lower life expectancy in the United States.

As of 2016, most deaths were caused by synthetic street products. This continued in 2017, said the CDC. "This sum of overdose synthetic opioid deaths over 12 months exceeds the total number of all opioid overdose deaths in 2013, when deaths involving synthetic opioids began to climb," the CDC said.

. over 1,700 opioid overdose deaths tested positive for fentanyl analogues between July 2016 and June 2017, with more than 1,100 deaths from carfentanil.

Emergency physicians and doctors may not be aware that overdose of synthetic products CDC has said.

"Orally ingested counterfeit pills with fentanyl or fentanyl analogues may require a prolonged dose of naloxone in the ED hospital setting because of a delayed toxicity that has been reported in some cases," said the CDC

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