Carfentanil-Surge

Kelley Nalewaja sits at the memorial for her son, Michael Nalewaja, who died after unknowingly taking a lethal cocktail of fentanyl and carfentanil in November 2025, at her home in El Dorado Hills, Calif., Thursday, April 16, 2026.

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Weapons-grade chemical carfentanil surges as dangerous substitute for fentanyl

Weapons-grade chemical carfentanil surges as dangerous substitute for fentanyl

Carfentanil has experienced a drastic resurgence across the U.S., causing hundreds of unsuspecting drug users to overdose. It is a weapons-grade chemical that the Drug Enforcement Administration says is 10,000 times more potent than morphine and 100 times stronger than fentanyl. DEA intelligence bulletins show the rise coincides with a recent crackdown by the Chinese government on the sale of precursors used to make fentanyl. The bulletins say that is likely leading traffickers in Mexico to use carfentanil to boost the potency of a weakened version of fentanyl. The surge comes even as fentanyl seizures and overall drug overdose deaths continue a multiyear decline.