“Super Mario,” a new street drug in Central New York, contains a synthetic opioid 100 times stronger than fentanyl, a Syracuse non-profit has found.
It’s the first time the drug carfentanil has been detected in Syracuse’s street drug supply, said Roberto Gonzalez, ACR Health’s director of harm reduction and prevention.
The state health department has issued a public health alert after at least two bags of “Super Mario” were tested by ACR Health in Syracuse and found to have carfentanil.
ACR Health routinely tests drugs collected by users as part of its harm-reduction efforts. Gonzalez was direct in his message to users:
“You might not survive an overdose,” he said. “Take all precautions.”
Carfentanil is a synthetic opioid described by federal authorities as up to 100 times more potent than fentanyl and 10,000 times more potent than morphine. Unlike those drugs, carfentanil has no legitimate medical use. (For comparison sake, fentanyl is 50 times more potent than heroin. The vast majority of Onondaga County’s 152 overdose deaths last year were caused by fentanyl.)
Cartentanil was developed as an elephant tranquillizer, though it’s no longer marketed, according to federal officials.
The first batches of “Super Mario” were collected last month, and confirmed to have carfentanil on June 6. The state issued a public health alert a day later.
At least one person has required Syracuse emergency care for severe wounds believed to be from “Super Mario,” officials said.
“Super Mario” is primarily a combination of fentanyl and xylazine, a horse tranquilizer that increases a user’s high but is impervious to Narcan. “Super Mario” contains traces of carfentanil and heroin.
It’s unclear how strong the high would be when all of those drugs are used in combination. Narcan is effective in reversing the effects of some opioids in “Super Mario,” including fentanyl and heroin.
“Carfentanil is a veterinary drug that is no longer marketed because it is so dangerous,” state health commissioner Dr. James McDonald said in a news release.
The Drug Enforcement Administration issued its first public alert about carfentanil in 2016, but it had not been detected in Syracuse’s drug supply before now. At most, there were rumors and unconfirmed reports about carfentanil from local users, Gonzalez said.
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