2 Deaths in Chicago Area Caused by Powerful Drugs ‘Never Before Seen in Cook County': Medical Examiner

One of the drugs is used to sedate elephants

Two people have died in Cook County due to powerful opioids the Cook County Medical Examiner’s office said have never been seen in the area before.

Officials said a 46-year-old Chicago man died in September from a “lethal combination of fentanyl analogs.”

Toxicology reports show the man had Cafentanil in his system, a fentanyl analog that is 10,000 times more potent than morphine, the medical examiner’s office said.

Fentanyl is a strong painkiller, and carfentanil is used to sedate elephants.

"Carfentanil is an elephant tranquilizer. It is not a drug that humans should be ingesting,” Dr. Steve Aks, emergency medicine physician and toxicologist at Cook County Health & Hospitals System's Stroger Hospital, said in a statement. “These high-potency opioids and opioid analogs are thousands of times stronger than street opioids like heroin and are far more likely to cause death.”

In June, a 35-year-old Lake Zurich man died from a “3-methylfentanyl overdose.” The analog is said to be four times more potent than morphine.

The deaths mark the first time anyone has died from those opioids in the county.

Still, the medical examiner’s office said it has seen an increase in deaths from fentanyl and other fentanyl analogs. The drug is said to have been the cause of death for music legend Prince. 

"Fentanyl and fentanyl analogues, like carfentanil, are very powerful drugs that are likely to be lethal," said Dr. Ponni Arunkumar, Cook County’s Chief Medical Examiner. “Just one dose can easily stop a person from breathing, causing immediate death.”

In 2016, 380 deaths have so far been caused, at least in part, by fentanyl or fentanyl analogs, the Cook County Medical Examiner reports. Officials note, however, that toxicology testing can take up to 90 days to complete.

In 2015, the office found 102 deaths were caused, at least in part, by fentanyl or fentanyl analogs. In 2014, only 20 deaths were attributed to fentanyl.

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